S04E04 China's imperial gamble in Afghanistan

“China is an inexperienced neo-imperialist, so almost everywhere it has pursued neo-imperialism, going beyond the US framework and building its own framework, there have been serious political crises. Three typical examples are Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Ethiopia...But at least in the Obama era, China was only an ancillary among the various players in Afghanistan - a humble wage earner... All these endeavors are without exception economically unprofitable, even loss-making, but they will provide China with a large and solid backstop outside the US system.”