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The World’s Emptiest Airport Is a Red Flag
- joshuaheard 9y agoI was in Samoa asking my cab driver about the new airport and new school building I saw there. He said the Chinese came in an volunteered to build them. I asked why? He said he didn't know, and that's what worried him.
- ep103 9y agoThe Great Belt Road. There are some good articles on it in reddit.com/r/geopolitics. But basically, China is willing to put up loans to build trade infrastructure, in the sorts of places where it would be too risky for private capital to do so (dictatorships, failing states, etc). They then make two (but only 2) demands: We want to be the ones to build it, and 2) If you default on payment for it, we'll lease it from you from that point on. Unstable countries see those two demands as far simpler than WTO / UN type development, which also tends to come with things like human rights requirements. And if they can't repay the loan, China will pay THEM to lease it out? Seems like a win-win. Fast forward a few years, and China has helped prop up their internal construction companies, by giving them state sponsored projects on foreign soil. And when the countries ultimately fail to repay the loan, China acquires territory over important infrastructure in foreign countries, not unlike how the US has military bases worldwide.
- lainga 9y agoDid the PLAN acquire their base in Djibouti this way, or did they come by it conventionally?
- pbarnes_1 9y agoThey also allegedly bug the premises. C.f. https://qz.com/1192493/china-spied-on-african-union-headquarters-for-five-years/ https://qz.com/1192493/china-spied-on-african-union-headquar...
- dalore 9y agoJust assume every country is bugging every other country.
- oh_sigh 9y agoHaving infrastructure in foreign countries isn't too helpful if the infrastructure isn't actually useful. How would the Chinese government use the airport differently than the Sri Lankan government that would make it all of the sudden worthwhile?
- smacktoward 9y agoChina has ambitions of regional hegemony, and a large air force that would find forward-deployed concrete airstrips very useful if called upon to support those ambitions. Sri Lanka has neither.
- forapurpose 9y agoLook up China's 'String of Pearls' strategy. They want military infrastructure (civilian airports and ports fill that role) in the Indian Ocean, in part to contain India.
- oh_sigh 9y agoWould a lease allow military missions to land there? I'd assume the SL government would have final say in the type of missions allowed
- iamshs 9y agoChina already docked a submarine in Sri Lankan port that they were building in 2014 and later took the lease off. Sri Lanka later rejected the Chinese request of docking a nuclear submarine. So, I think it is on case-by-case basis and if local government has curried favours with Chinese Government. They are building military infrastructure (listening posts already exist) in Myanmar's Coco Islands, and Maldives too, in their strategy to surround India which is called, "String of Pearls".
- forapurpose 9y agoGreat powers have a way of persuading small countries. If China wanted it, there is little SL could do - China can 'make an offer they can't refuse'. Look at the South China Sea. For example, if SL resisted and China ignored them then the SL leader would be humiliated and might fall from power and/or China might replace them with someone more agreeable. I think SL's only protection would be if another power, India in particular, decided it was in their interest to push out China. I'm surprised India has allowed China to get a foothold there. Compare SL to Cuba: Castro survived, AFAICT, because the USSR supported him and used Cuba as a geostrategic base.
- forapurpose 9y ago> China acquires territory over important infrastructure in foreign countries, not unlike how the US has military bases worldwide. Well, China is an authoritarian dictatorship, while the U.S. supports democracy and human rights of the locals. In fact, the U.S. has done more for freedom and democracy in China than the Chinese government: 23 million Chinese people in Taiwan have those things because the U.S. protects them from China's own government. (Yes, the U.S. also does some bad things.) There is a big difference between a foreign government controlling a military base with the support of the local government, and a foreign government controlling the major ports and railroads due to a debt trap that the local government can't legally escape. Again, the U.S. is imperfect, but the world has seen enough expansionist dictatorships to know what they do.
- NedIsakoff 9y agoChina is a People's Democratic Dictatorship! Its by the will of the people, for the people! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_democratic_dictatorship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_democratic_dictator... /s
- testvox 9y agoCan you point me towards the local government that supports the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base?
- mikeash 9y agoThat would be the Republic of Cuba. They’re local in space, albeit not in time....
- dalore 9y agoOne could argue that the form of democracy being spread by the US is in fact creating more instability and terrorism due to violent methods in which it is being spread.
- forapurpose 9y agoThe dictators like to associate democracy with disorder, but it's the opposite: We take for granted that the most stable, prosperous, and free countries in the history of the world are all democracies. Democracy has been an incredible success for humanity, beyond the wildest dreams of millennia (but still not good enough!). > violent methods in which it is being spread That is attempted sometimes (and usually with poor results), but democracy almost always spreads peacefully: India, Brazil, South Korea, most of Europe, South Africa (albeit still a one-party democracy), Mexico, etc. etc. It's the dictatorships that try to spread their form of government through violence. We can say that if there were no dictatorships - i.e., if all countries were democracies - there probably would be no wars. Even Trump and the GOP aren't threatening war with any democracies.
- decebalus1 9y agowhile the US is dealing with border walls, military patrols at the border and trade wars, China is busy building it's trade infrastructure abroad and establishing itself as a super-power. Considering China's attitude towards human rights this should worry everyone..
- ctdonath 9y agoIf US hadn't neglected borders & trade imbalances, they'd be doing the same - with better human rights.
- lainga 9y agoThe Chinese dealt with border walls, military patrols and trade wars... sometime last millennium.
- FruityFarm 9y agoWhy should it worry everyone?
- decebalus1 9y agocheck out China's track record wrt to human rights, free speech, censorship, government control, you name it. Imagine if they become the 'world police'
- WJW 9y agoCheck out the USA's track record if you are not a citizen. I'm sure the second amendment is a great consolation after your children died in a drone strike.
- gruez 9y agoStill better than what china does.
- humantrack 9y agoYou do realize you wouldn’t even be able to make this comment in China if it was against the government right? You would be censored and picked up and killed
- NedIsakoff 9y agoThe port/airport is gonna be owned and operated by China, giving the PLA/PLAN/PLAAF an forward operating area. I welcome the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere 2.0 -- all hail Great Leader Xi Jinping. Long live Xi Jinping. Long live Xi Jinping thought. /s
- NedIsakoff 9y agoDespite the craziness, it is what's going to happen.
- polotics 9y agoIt will happen, as they like to say of democracy: "with Chinese characteristics". Short term profiteering clothed in vague long-term grandiosities. Xi will be the last emperor of that era, methinks.
- NedIsakoff 9y agoDo you mean: People's Democratic Dictatorship?
- xkcd-sucks 9y ago习近平万岁!
- polymerase 9y ago/s ?
- NedIsakoff 9y agoYes /s
- dbasedweeb 9y agoThe original “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” was a concept of the Japanese empire during WWII. Given the deep and abiding loathing many in China still have for Japan, what you’re saying seems phrased in a way to be maximally upsetting. Note that I don’t think you’re wrong, I’m just impressed at how much needling can be packed into one post! One possible argument against the notion is that China has always been manically focused on internal unity. Their ambitions abroad, while extensive, will always take a backseat to internal cohesion. China seems to be preparing for a certain amount of internal social upheaval, and if that does happen it would probably curb their external activities to an extent. This kind of economic “outreach” is possibly a way to get imperial without having to overcommit. It’s a little scary, because as you say it could work. If the Chinese play it right, they could dominate economically without firing a shot, except maybe in Taiwan
- paxy 9y agoI highly recommend Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit...) which goes into detail about the "debt trap" referred to in the article. Coercing developing countries into taking out loans they can't afford to build infrastructure they don't need has been the USA's MO for decades, and is the reason why it is able to exert so much geopolitical influence around the world. And recently China has been playing the same game.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- abakker 9y agoThen, read “Debt, the first 5000 years” after that. A great combo.
- mikepurvis 9y agoI'm partway through this one based on a previous HN recommendation— it's a bit of an intimidating tome, but a very easy, engaging read.
- cynicalkane 9y agoI've reposted this a few times, but it's worth repeating: Graeber, the author of "Debt: the first 5000 years", lies extensively about easily verifiable facts. Here, for example, is Graeber on Apple Computers: > Apple Computers is a famous example: it was founded by (mostly Republican) computer engineers who broke from IBM in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, forming little democratic circles of twenty to forty people with their laptops in each other's garages. Someone who's willing to say something like that has blown their credentials in my book, especially when it comes to economics, which is an ideologically touchy field already. Here's a further, somewhat ranty discussion by Brad Delong, a well-respected left-wing economist: http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/04/david-graeber-april-fools-day-post.html http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/04/david-graeber-april-fo...
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- tempuser24 9y agoSeems like a strategy that the US used for many years, as outlined in the books "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit.... I wonder what resources China will want in exchange?
- sct202 9y agoOn Google Maps the airport looks like it only has 2 gates and a small parking lot. It seems like they definitely overpaid for an airport of that size.
- 24gttghh 9y agoTBH why would anyone fly there if the divided highways going to it...also go nowhere as evidenced by the satellite imagery.
- pjc50 9y agoIt's not the only recently built abandoned airport; Spain has one as well. "Don Quijote Airport" (!)
- passer_byer 9y agoThe first chapter of the book, Debt, the First 5,000 years by David Graeber, articulates how Western, multi-lateral institutions such as the IMF, in effect, set debt traps for developing countries. https://libcom.org/files/__Debt__The_First_5_000_Years.pdf https://libcom.org/files/__Debt__The_First_5_000_Years.pdf (pdf)