Sometimes I wonder why it is countries in the West that raise concerns about China's treatment of the Uyghurs. I mean, if you look at the map of Uyghurland (China does not like this map):
you have five Muslim countries and a Muslim majority region of a sixth, yet not much out of the coreligionists. Ditto for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Iran? Nada. North Africa? Crickets.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has 57 member countries:
A population larger than China's yet not much about the treatment of Chinese Muslims.
This may be part of the reason. From Asia Times, May 30:
Islamabad may decline to pay Chinese banks it owes billions in perceived as onerous take-or-pay power production contracts
PESHAWAR – Pakistan’s debt problems are escalating as liabilities due on China-funded energy projects established under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) surpass $31 billion and Beijing declines to restructure $3 billion in liabilities coming due that Islamabad possibly won’t pay.
The debt load, owed largely for the building of independent power producers (IPPs) on take-or-pay power generation contracts, is substantially more than the $19 billion in total invested in the plants, according to reports and industry analysts.
Pakistan is obliged to pay $5.9 billion to the power companies for take-or-pay capacity payments alone over the next four years by 2025. Those will entail more pay than take at current power usage rates.
The money is owed despite the fact many of the plants are not actually producing power due to overcapacity and the failure of Pakistani power authorities to develop the national grid and related delivery systems to fully meet grassroots demand.
The contracts and their now perceived as onerous conditionalities were made at a time Pakistan faced acute power shortages.
Farrukh Saleem, an Islamabad-based political scientist, economist, financial analyst and former government spokesperson on economy and energy issues, told Asia Times that “circular debt” – a term he uses for the energy sector’s overall debt profile – is up from $7.2 billion in 2018 to $15.8 billion in 2021.
“The circular debt is projected to hit $26.3 billion by 2025. The capacity payment has also swelled from $4.4 billion to $5.9 billion and is going to increase to $9.8 billion in the next couple of years,” he claimed. He said the debts are now equivalent to 11% of the gross domestic product (GDP)....
....MUCH MORE
As for the Saudis, they and the Gulf States are acutely aware of losing Chinese hydrocarbon market share to Iran and Russia.
And as for me, on this anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, I am reduced to posting maps the Chinese Communist Party/government disapproves of. Here's another one:
