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"North Korea GOOD, China turning to capitalism GOOD" - Very Serious Socialists
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this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2026
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MeanwhileOnGrad
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Keep in mind when I say this, that I'm here to be better informed, so if I say something wrong please correct me.
My understanding of Chinese initiatives like Belt and Road is that they aren't just altruistic investments in places like Southeast Asia and Africa, they are actually enormous loans with some promise of a return in the indeterminate future. In effect, China is indebting these countries to them, so it can then coerce them into adopting more pro-China policies, adopting Chinese manufacturered technology, etc. Not to say that the US didn't do this too, mind you.
Most of China's action in reducing world poverty is related to improving the economic conditions of its people, mainly through state capitalism and taking on enormous debt.
It is likely that China is presenting other countries with economic conditions that are near the conditions that the Chinese government will accept and the infrastructure has a higher probability of being built than other forms of economic aid. Major issues with Chinese deals is that the payment plan for a lot of these deals is on the order of a century and Chinese engineers don't design for economics. So, Chinese infrastructure tends to be overbuilt and doesn't always serve the economics of the region. After that, the countries with this infrastructure built have issues paying off the debt.
When people talk about China lifting folk out of poverty, they generally mean domestically. Belt-and-road initiatives haven't had enough time to had that kind of effect, even assuming that is the effect they will have.