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by throwaway21_ 1815 days ago
Yeah, EU investing money - good, China investing money - bad.

- Why it's bad?

- Because they get influence over government.

- But EU also gets even more influence when they invest money and finance myriads of NGOs?

- Yeah, but that's different - we are the good guys and they are bad (even when we're doing same thing).
1 comments
dagw 1815 days ago
Did you read the article?

"A copy of the loan contract reviewed by NPR shows that if Montenegro is not able to repay China's state-owned Export-Import Bank on time, the bank then has the right to seize land inside Montenegro"

Do EU contracts contain that sort of language? China knew they would never get paid back on this loan and made specifically to extract political and diplomatic concessions when the inevitable renegotiation happens.

Furthermore China requires Chines state owned companies get the contracts for doing the work, so much of the money the lend out comes straight back to them.

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MaheshC 1815 days ago
As shown by Greece, the European Union in fact seizes wages from minimum salary workers. I don't care if a mall where I shop is owned by a French Corporation or a Chinese Corporation. But I do care if a foreigner entity comes and seizes part of my salary.
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stevenicr 1814 days ago
Didn't Chinese take a Greek port in like 2010?

You don't care if a foreign power controls a mall - but that is not the same as controlling ports / other infrastructure.

You can tax every person's salary by ramping up fees at the ports, or destroy all the malls in the country via the port.

I'm not saying it's a bad deal or a good deal - I don't know enough about all the effects.. but there isn't much difference in taking some money from a paycheck and making everything you buy with said paycheck more expensive for example.

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7steps2much 1814 days ago
Could you provide some more context and/or sources for this? The EU to my knowledge does not have the ability to seize anything from anyone.
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aorth 1814 days ago
Read about the austerity packages enforced by the EU in Greece over the last decade. Raised taxes, lowered tax brackets, restricted withdrawal of money from bank accounts, slashed pensions, cut bonuses and overtime, and on and on. Devastated Greece for years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_austerity_packages

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