China isn’t content with expanding to Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Lately, it has been talking with Brazil and other South American countries about infrastructure development. Now, China is thinking about investing in an EU government bailout fund.
European countries like Spain and Italy are facing rising debts, although their debt ceiling is already the highest in the eurozone. Most of the Western investors are uncertain as to whether or not to loan more to EU countries. If the Italian economy collapses, that is bad news for investors and could start a domino effect across the eurozone as confidence in repayment measures wanes. Austerity measures can’t be implemented ad infinitum either, so what else can be done? Stop the hand wringing…China is interested in buying European bonds which would infuse new life into the eurozone!
China and Europe have always had a relationship, but the EU is now China’s largest trading partner. Whereas China is interested in a return politically from the EU in exchange for economic help, what kind of long-term outlook will they require from the European people? Will it want a blind eye towards human rights abuses and breaking trade rules, solidarity in UN Security Council resolutions, or will it welcome European aid in Chinese development projects? What about gaining full market economy status? China doesn’t give without getting something in return and it will expect something just as sizeable in return.
An Air Force Academy graduate had to write a paper about how a country could take over the United States. He wrote that China has already (hypothetically) been investing in sleeper cells all across America, by placing Chinese restaurants in every little town. Ingenious, but it doesn’t seem that China needs stealth to take over…it just needs to wait for economic failures to engulf a country, one continent at a time.
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