China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the most ambitious infrastructure project ever undertaken, and will ultimately result in more than one trillion dollars of investment by the time it is finished. The initiative is breathtaking in its scope and scale, with scores of countries participating and dozens of massive dams, railways, roads, and power projects transforming the landscape throughout the developing world.

Only China is capable of undertaking such a bold Initiative. Beijing might have chosen to make unadulterated development as its core objective, issuing billions of dollars in grants to host governments to fund the projects and lending its substantial engineering and construction expertise to nations that desperately need to develop their infrastructure, seeking nothing in return. Instead, Beijing chose to lend the governments of these nations money it knew could not be repaid and use the BRI not only to project its soft and hard power and seek greater influence throughout the world, but to blatantly pursue the acquisition of natural resources.

In the process, many BRI host nations have become indebted to Beijing, owing it tens of billions of dollars and falling into a debt trap. Beijing required that these governments agree to either cede control or outright ownership of these projects to the Chinese government or its companies, when they inevitably defaulted. Some projects never stood a chance of operating profitably. Doing so has made these countries beholden to Beijing in a variety of ways.

This book is an exploration of the profound impacts the BRI has had on nations around the world - both developing and developed - as well as on the Chinese government and its participating companies. Beijing failed to foresee the potential impacts of its approach on host nations - or, perhaps, it did not care. Now, there have been substantial negative reverberations, prompting Beijing to rethink it approach. Will Beijing approach the BRI differently in the future? Is it even capable of doing so?

These are among the many questions addressed in this, Daniel Wagner’s third book on China. His first book on China, China Vision, delved into how Beijing is seeking create an alternative world order in China’s image. His second China book, The America-China Divide, analyzes the scope and scale of the fissure between the two countries, going well beyond the economic and political realms.

In The Chinese Vortex, he takes a deep dive into the shockwaves that have been felt around the world as a result of the BRI, providing numerous examples that chronicle how damaging many of these projects have been to countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Daniel explores many of the economic, geopolitical, and environmental impacts, but also a host of additional topics that help the listener better understand what is really at stake. Among the many topics explored are how Beijing’s pursuit of a national digital currency may affect BRI nations and the world, why the BRI is losing its appeal, and what Beijing - and the world’s nations - must do to try to mitigate its negative impacts. It is an informative and eye-opening exposé that sheds light on Beijing’s brazen pursuit of influence, natural resources, and power through the BRI.