From 2020!!-----Iran And Italy Are Paying A Hefty Price For Ties With Communist China

Iran And Italy Are Paying A Hefty Price For Ties With Communist China

• Iran and Italy's economies are worsening, and their people are suffering most in this Wuhan virus outbreak — all because of their leaders’ short-sighted and foolish decisions.--MARCH 17, 2020

"...What many people find shocking is that Italy and Iran are the second- and third-hardest hit nations in this outbreak.
By any common-sense measure, both countries should have much lower numbers of confirmed cases and deaths because they are geographically far from the epicenter of the outbreak. 

The reason these two countries are suffering the most outside China is mainly due to their close ties with Beijing, primarily through the “One Belt and One Road” (OBOR) initiative.

OBOR is Beijing’s foreign policy play disguised as infrastructure investment. 

• Here’s how it works: China and country X agree to do an infrastructure project in country X. Country X has to borrow from a Chinese bank to finance the project. A contract is always awarded to Chinese companies, which then bring supplies and Chinese employees to country X to build the project. Clearly, the country that benefits most from this initiative is China.

...While this initiative has worked out well for China’s strategic interests, it hasn’t done the same for participating countries.

 At least eight countries that signed on the OBOR initiative are so indebted to the Chinese that they had to hand over their strategic assets to China to offset their debt...Read all!