"A copy of the loan contract reviewed by NPR shows that if Montenegro is not able to repay China's state-owned Export-Import Bank on time, the bank then has the right to seize land inside Montenegro"
Do EU contracts contain that sort of language? China knew they would never get paid back on this loan and made specifically to extract political and diplomatic concessions when the inevitable renegotiation happens.
Furthermore China requires Chines state owned companies get the contracts for doing the work, so much of the money the lend out comes straight back to them.
You don't care if a foreign power controls a mall - but that is not the same as controlling ports / other infrastructure.
You can tax every person's salary by ramping up fees at the ports, or destroy all the malls in the country via the port.
I'm not saying it's a bad deal or a good deal - I don't know enough about all the effects.. but there isn't much difference in taking some money from a paycheck and making everything you buy with said paycheck more expensive for example.
- Why it's bad?
- Because they get influence over government.
- But EU also gets even more influence when they invest money and finance myriads of NGOs?
- Yeah, but that's different - we are the good guys and they are bad (even when we're doing same thing).