OBOR and terrorists, will be fun to watch.

Last weekend China hosted a meeting of almost 30 world leaders for its One Belt One Road, or OBOR, also known as Belt Road Initiative, in Beijing. Apparently, China wants to fill the gap left by the US under Donald Trump's 'America First' policy to become the sole superpower of the world. The Chinese government insists that this is a purely economic project aimed at improving the global economy, which will help China by helping everybody. India did not attend because the China Pakistan economic corridor passes through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. although many pundits in India believe that we missed an opportunity to improve our infrastructure. Writing from the US, Seema Sirohi says that Trump's craven submission toXi Jinping is harmful for India and OBOR is a dangerous strategy for backdoor colonialism. Pakistan sees the economic corridor as a game changer which will provide valuable infrastructure, electricity and water, and so will boost its flagging economy. A recent leak in the Dawn newspaper in Pakistan shows the extensive nature of Chinese plans for the economic corridor. The Chinese plan to take over vast tracts of agricultural land for growing fruits and vegetables. There will be economic zones for industry, presumably Chinese. There will be meat, vegetable, and fruit processing plants. They will take over mineral extraction in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Chinese will install CCTV cameras and security along the corridor and a safe city will be created in Peshawar. This means soldiers of the Peoples Liberation Army will be stationed all along the corridor and deep into Pakistani territory, presumably with the freedom to shoot at anyone they suspect as terrorist. Finally, fiber-optic cables will be laid along the corridor to broadcast Chinese programs to Pakistanis. China is to invest $62 billion in the project as a loan, which Pakistan will start to repay in 2020. Apparently, China has been planning this project since the 1950s, wrote Iftikhar Rasheed who was involved in part of the negotiations with China. "Can China afford its Belt and Road," asked Christopher Balding. To pay for it China would have to make its currency, the renminbi, freely tradable but that risks a precipitous fall in its value. International lenders may refuse and borrowing countries need to run a trade surplus with China to repay their loans. Sri Lanka is struggling to repay its loans because of the extortionate rate of interest. India did well to stay away. We need to guard our border and wait for the Chinese to kill a few terrorists and then watch the fun as all the jihadis gang together against the Chinese. Scum vs scum, let them eliminate each other.