CCP’s Mekong River Belt and Road Projects a Faustian Bargain, Says Expert
Renowned expert hydrologist Wang Weiluo has likened Belt and Road deals between countries along the Mekong River and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as Faustian bargains, saying that while they bring investment they are deals with the devil that hurt livelihoods.
Speaking to the Hong Kong Epoch Times, Wang said that the dams on the Mekong River are destroying the ecological environment and directly threatening the development of fisheries and the livelihood of tens of millions of fishermen in the Mekong River basin.
His comments come after CCP mouthpiece Xinhua reported that Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s speech to the U.S.-led virtual climate summit was a guideline to build a “human community with a shared future,” while touting seven hydropower stations on the Nam Ou River in Laos built by the CCP as a perfect example.
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The Lenten season requires you to suspend your disbelief. Not sure about a skinny 33-something dude turning down a loaf of bread after fasting in the wilderness for 40 days? It’s Lent, baby! Get over it! Planning to give up sugar for six weeks? Sure, okay Lent! A little shaky on hand-washing practices at your parish’s weekly fish fry? Shove it, man it’s Lent, and anything’s possible!
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But to a lapsed Protestant like myself, nothing feels quite so
Lenten as the annual parade of the fast fish sandwiches. I’m referring to the two-month-ish period during which nearly every major fast food chain rolls out its limited-time fried fish sandwich, complete with a dollop of Catholic-friendly tartar sauce. It’s a glorious occasion, but also one that demands a certain faith in the impossible. First of all, fish products shouldn’t have right angles, and there’s no way any of that “Alaskan pollock” is actually wild-caught. And yet for as long as I can re