The Belt and Road Initiative was originally called One Belt and One Road (OBOR). It was started more than 11 years ago by President Xi Jinping.

I wrote about this massive undertaking in June of 2020 in RealClearDefense. My article said:

• “The PRC is buying up ports and other facilities (land and ocean terminals, gas and oil pipelines, roads, rail lines, airports) worldwide and will use these assets in critical locations to strongly influence other nations. This is occurring in Asia, Africa and Europe, and also in the U.S.‘s back yard in Central and South America, including critical facilities in the Panama Canal.”

• “Through OBOR (now Belt and Road), the PRC is building or financing transportation and other infrastructure all over Asia and elsewhere in the world, with projects now in 71 countries. However, the predatory loans it makes through OBOR are designed so that the countries receiving them frequently default, allowing the PRC to take ownership of the projects. OBOR has already resulted in the PRC taking control of facilities in Sri Lanka and Djibouti and threatening to do so in Pakistan and other countries. OBOR is expanding the PRC’s power base for both military and commercial activities.”

In just four years, there are now projects in 147 countries, which represent 40% of the world’s GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population. How’s that for making a lasting impact? According to the State Department, China has now invested more than a trillion dollars on critical infrastructure projects all over the world, including in key locations in the Western Hemisphere, and ultimately plans to spend up to $8 trillion.

China raises funds to build infrastructure at bargain rates but on difficult-to-achieve terms, mobilizing massive numbers of Chinese companies and labor to manage and construct it. When inexperienced countries fall behind on payments or have trouble managing the projects, China steps in and takes over. Then, China owns the function, cementing its presence and influence in that country permanently.

A recent project in the Western Hemisphere just completed with great fanfare. President Xi traveled from China to participate in the grand opening of a $3.6 billion port in Peru, largely funded by China. This combined rail and port project in Chancay, Peru, will enhance trade between Latin America, South America, and China by making shipping to China more efficient and less costly. The new port can handle the largest ships, giving economies of scale on the shipment of commodities and raw materials, including copper from Peru. According to Reuters, “Xi said that Chancay, a 15-berth, deep-water port, was the successful start of a '21st-century maritime Silk Road’ and part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, its modern revival of the ancient Silk Road trading route.”

According to this same report, “China’s major investment in Chancay has raised alarm bells in Washington. Gen. Laura Richardson, former chief of the U.S. Southern Command, warned this month that Chancay could be used by the Chinese navy and for intelligence-gathering. U.S. anxieties about Chancay reflect a broader, decades-long shift in a region Washington long saw as its backyard. China has overtaken the United States to become the largest trading partner of countries such as Peru.”

China has long aspired to control port facilities and the loading and offloading of ships in ports worldwide. It controls almost 100 ports globally and most of the loading equipment. According to a report by CNBC, “China, the world’s largest builder of container cranes in the world, controls 80% of the cranes in use in dozens of ports around the world.” China, in effect, controls the transportation of goods by ship worldwide.

State Department Undersecretary for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt frequently testifies before Congress about the critical area of energy development:

The PRC’s activities have shown Beijing will secure its own interests before all others, often at the expense of local partners. PRC assistance is far from “no strings” attached. Often it comes with political quid-pro-quo, limiting countries’ flexibility.

… Prevailing in our strategic competition with China and ensuring that the United States remains the partner of choice on issues of energy security and energy transition has been a priority for me in the Bureau of Energy Resources, or ENR, from day one. As I meet with governments around the world, I often hear that the PRC was not their preferred partner for energy projects; it simply was the only option available — for energy infrastructure, for mining projects, or for energy finance.

We don’t have enough critical minerals to power the world’s clean energy agenda. The existing supply chains for these minerals-from extraction to processing to recycling-are overwhelmingly dominated by the PRC.

When it comes to the PRC, we have not been competing on a level playing field. … Time and again, we have seen how the PRC’s ability to deploy financing rapidly and without accountability has consolidated its dominance in critical minerals supply chains and now in electric vehicles as well.

That barely scratches the surface of the extent of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which has given Beijing control over strategic areas like energy, infrastructure, transportation, and many others. Belt and Road is another part of the CCP master plan to rule the world by 2049, a goal set down by Mao in 1949. How is that for patient master planning? Sadly, the U.S. mostly just watches as the Chinese methodically conquer the world.