Richard Fontaine

a robust economic relationship with China.

But nevertheless, it has its limits.

So, for example, India banned Chinese apps like TikTok and other things way before other countries really even thought about it.

That was a product, among other things, of the skirmishes that took place in the Himalayas between the two countries.

India tends to be pretty deeply skeptical of Chinese intentions in their own region.

And of course, the border dispute is a matter of serious difference.

But nevertheless, they balance that with a trade relationship and physical proximity because they have to live alongside China.

All of those things.

China will often provide investment and financing for projects in countries.

Sometimes we'll bid on projects where there's no non-Chinese bidder available to do so, provide expertise.

And in terms of what we would put in the realm of foreign assistance, often it's

no strings attached kinds of foreign assistance.

I mean, the United States typically, for example, has tied its assistance to things like improvements in human rights or the rule of law or things like that.

China, that's not the way that they do things.

China provides diplomatic benefits to countries and to their leadership in terms of visits and summits and both in Beijing and in other countries as well.

And China provides here and there these kinds of economic benefits from trade, from investment, from infrastructure building, from technology transfer, from the transfer of expertize to Chinese workers.

Again, all of which is a quite attractive package to any especially developing country that is looking to improve a lot of its people.

Well, if you travel around and talk to a lot of countries that describe their economic dependence on China, and this is not just developing countries, but countries in Europe that export automobiles to China or countries in Asia that rely on Chinese financing for a lot of projects at home, whatever it may be.

None of the kind of geopolitical concerns about Chinese intentions is lost on the leadership of these countries.

But on the other hand, this kind of economic relationship in particular is a source of good things for their country.