Commentary
One of the many threats to America from China runs through Sri Lanka. In that South Asian country, there are ongoing food riots. Sri Lanka owes so much to Beijing that it had to surrender one of its ports, plus 15,000 acres, for 99 years. Beijing doubtless seeks to turn the port, about 250 miles from its arch-rival India, into a naval base.
Other countries also owe dangerously unsustainable amounts of debt to Beijing. Djibouti, Laos, Zambia, and Kyrgyzstan owe at least 20 percent of their respective gross domestic products (GDPs) to China. Most emerging market countries like this are paying more and more of their national income as interest. Once they can’t pay, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) springs the trap, demanding major concessions, including military bases that threaten the United States and its allies….