Chinese state media announced on Wednesday that Colombia has signed a “joint cooperation plan” that will bring it into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s gigantic worldwide infrastructure plan.
BRI is often criticized as a “debt trap” because it encourages client nations to take out big loans from Chinese banks that can never be repaid, since BRI projects tend to be much less profitable than promised.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said during a visit to China on Monday that his country would join the “Silk Road,” the original name given to BRI to evoke the ancient trade route that ran from China through the Middle East and into Europe. Latin America was not in any way linked to the Ancient Silk Road.
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