The European Union announced on Sept. 15 that it is introducing a new investment program called “Global Gateway” to rival China’s controversial development program, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has left many poor nations with heavy debt loads. In her state of the Union speech, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the new program would be “a template” for Europe’s future investments and projects around the world. “We are good at financing roads. But it does not make sense for Europe to build a perfect road between a Chinese-owned copper mine and a Chinese-owned harbor,” she told lawmakers at the European Parliament. “We have to get smarter when it comes to these kinds of investments.” China has been ruled as a one-party state since the communist party came into power in 1949. Until the Trump administration started to challenge the regime for flouting of international law …