BEIJING (China Daily Show) – A senior delegate to China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ forum in Beijing has spent the last two days nodding and politely clapping, without grasping the meaning of the Chinese-led $900 billion-dollar trade initiative.
“It’s apparently a symphony, led by a chorus, and we are all the geese,” said the unnamed Belt and Road delegate, his palms nearly raw from constant applause. “It costs nearly a trillion dollars but belongs to everyone – how does that work? No idea.”
The delegate, his cheeks aching from smiling at representatives from several dozens of developing nations, said he had yet to fully understand how building dozens of ports, pipelines and petroleum refineries using excess Chinese labor and raw materials would “add splendor to civilization,” as President Xi Jinping claimed in his keynote speech on Sunday.
“What’s a Belt? Why does ‘Road’ refer to the sea route? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” sighed the delegate. “All we’ve been told is, it definitely isn’t a neo-colonialist resources grab that props up authoritarian regimes in places like Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
“I guess we’ll get all the answers at the press conference.”
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