Business diplomacy vs China

Robert Heinlein's novels have big businesses going to war openly with entire countries: and of course they have been doing this for a couple of centuries (East India Company, anyone?).

But now China, whose "businesses" are often really government connected (i.e. the definition of fascism) are part of Trumpieboy's play with China.

The (conservative) Gateway institute discusses China's cheating on trade deals, theft of intellectual property, etc. and why Trump is trying to stop it. LINK




this will make heads explode in the US State Dept, but will make the working class in the US happy, since it was mainly their jobs who were exported there under previous administrations.

the fact that China's businesses are being used to push that country's neocolonialism is something often ignored in the US MSM, who don't get the connection.

But again John Bachelor points out how the US economic help to China has been propping up the communist gov't there

 (so they can make a profit using cheap Chinese factories of course).

Here in the Philippines, Duterte, who (contrary to what you read in the US MSM)  is popular for doing a "dirty Harry" against the druggie thugs who prey on ordinary folks, is now in trouble for being too friendly to China...and falling into China's infamous "debt trap", where China loans lots of money to a poor country and when they can't pay back, China seizes their assets.

Rappler story from March 2019 here.

No less than Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio of the Supreme Court has combed through the Chinese loan agreements entered into by the Duterte administration and found onerous provisions that imperil our nation’s “patrimonial assets.” That China is capable of imposing such conditions should come as no surprise. China, in its bid for global economic and political dominance, has wantonly trampled on the rights and sovereignty of many a developing country.

The problem is a loan for an irrigation system that could ultimately allow China to take over Reed bank and it's natural gas resources.

more about the problem HERE, in a 2018 editorial which goes into details of how China has bilked a lot of poor countries under this scheme, and is now loaning money to the Philippines.

 China's loans have a higher interest rate than getting the money from Japan, so why borrow from China? The editorial suspects corruption might be part of the reason.

So who will help these countries pay back their debts? (and remember, many of these countries are corrupt so much of the "foreign aid" will end up in someone's pockets, making western businesses and governments shy to bail them out).

John Bachelor has this interesting story about Tonga's problem with their Chinese debt:



The SundayGuardian has the story. told in the podcast: Rumors that the LDS church will bail the country out of their debt to China.


Because western countries wanted "regime change", after riots, they refused to help rebuild the infrastructure, so China moved in and took over with loans. Repayment is delayed when Tonga joins China's one road program, but the debts mean Tonga could essentially let China take over their economy.

Note: Tonga has never been a colony to anyone, and is largely Christian, but has an active LDS community of about 20 percent of the population, and the LDS help their people with education and aid projects.

So there are rumors that the "Mormon Church" will bail out the country's debt so they can remain free of China's neocolonialist bullying.

The church, however, denies this.

however in the article, it gives the amount of money owed to China:

Tonga with its sovereign debt to China which has reach its current level of around US$120 million.

that is not a lot of money for big businesses: 

And so an alternative would be that an LDS businessman could step in and help, maybe by refinancing the loans or helping with the payments.

The LDS church is business friendly, and Mormons run a lot of businesses;  and they only trust other church members, which annoyed the "gentile" businessmen when I worked in the mountain states of the USA.

But this personal connection could lead to a way to solve Tonga's debt problem:
An LDS businessman could sponsor the deal and because he would use fellow church members (who are presumably honest) to do it: and this could keep their money from being diverted by corruption.