Highway To Nowhere Drives Entire Country Deep Into Debt

The contract the country signed with China that allows China to seize land in Montenegro over unpaid debts and allows a Chinese court to have final say on the execution of the contract. You may be wondering why China is building such a beautiful road to nowhere in a Balkan country in the first place. Montenegro has wanted to build this freeway for years, but couldn't get European backing because they were afraid Montenegro couldn't repay the debt, despite the country hoping to join the EU someday. Enter China and its Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to increase the country's influence in other countries by funding vital infrastructure work. Not only does BRI build up infrastructure in less developed nations and give China's construction companies something to do as building slows down at home, but such infrastructure allows Chinese-backed companies to extract the natural resources from those nations more efficiently. China purchased the Greek port of Piraeus and now has a presence in 39 African countries, for instance through BRI according to the international think tank the Lowy Institute. Analysts tell NPR that now that Montenegro's leaders have gone silent on the debt, China is likely working with official to restructure the loan.