platform sites, the question about the age verification i think is still very open. you are watching the news from berlin coming up next week. we take a closer look at china is plan to dominate the seas. i'm terry martin. thanks for the . i want to tell you something, it's a bear with me raising awareness of h o d and on and we're still in test shane assignments. we need to break out of and i want to tell you something how to tennessee. chris starts november 29th on dw, the most of the stuff you by crosses the world by sea shipping containers don't just total goods. they hold something else to power and

china is all in that's why they've been investing massively in ports all over the world to china, probably have stakes and a port in the are you there creating a network and it goes beyond trade. this is a story about the promises sprawling ambition and a plan to dominate the seas the but let's start small. let's go to creepy and cameron. it's a coastal town known for its sandy beaches and fresh fish. now it's also home to a deep water seaport built by china just down the coast. this is what the coast by creepy looked like on satellite images about 20 years ago. not too much going on in 2011, a chinese state owned construction company started building the port with the help

of the camera and the and government. you can see how quickly it pops up here along with the highway that connects creepy to the rest of the country. china invested over $1000000000.00 to open the port in 2018. the idea as outlined in this promotional video, to turn creevy into a key trade hub for all of central in west africa, china promised fireworks and local se the port has certainly change things here. no product could be, uh, it'd been a month. yeah. okay. give it to me, my name is also shed today, says that shave when money see the quoted so that many people who did the for the purpose, the i book without pause, i posted them and it isn't just creevy and cameras. china has poured promise is attractive for governments. they lend you money, you hire

a chinese state owned construction firm. they quickly build you a port. and that connects you to a global trade kind of a patient believe so because the china has to have strong stay on the enterprises china, very efficient to how to look at that. so that's, that's basically the soft spring heat from time. that's one you way. he's director of the institute of international affairs at redman university of china in beijing and is a former chinese diplomat. also a ton of each. those might be, i think, this mutual benefit and in return china promises not to get involved in your politics no matter what. by the way, china's involvement isn't the same in every port. for example, it can vary from 100 percent ownership to a minority steak. but the pitch has been successful in the global south, especially in african countries, out of around 160 ports with china,

head steaks and 53 are on the african continent. start shooting the point you soon . 56, i do a bit good. then this is almost dead good demo, cross the lot bunkerville niles on golf. i left this yonder job or the out the 6. yeah. a lot, shooting the alaska add to where it says that there are some guys you some so some point they say from $1.00 to 0 now to the key itself, which and i'm off at the pallet 5 building roads, railways and seaports. china wants to connect the world and one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever conceived. jones young man hold your dish bank. when the belt and road initiative launched in 2013, it was initially suppose to connect china and europe. just like china's ancient

silk road. they face now china is tapping into markets in the global south sunday. so we need to find a new money for our time. and to those countries also be going to share the experience this time is more than a zation, like a chinese smoking coast. if you want to reach, go that route. here's the network, china has delta, the orange lines, or overland roads. the blue lines are maritime roots. in the last few years, china has increasingly expanded the maritime part of the network. and that strategy makes sense because remember, most traded goods across the world by sea. more than 80 percent these are the main routes they take. and these are some of the world's most vital choke points. ships with goods important to world trade need to pass through here to get from one region to another. now take another look at those ports. they give

china pretty crucial access, which is important for the country as the world's just ex border. the real question uh to my mind has to do with whether or not these infrastructure projects that leave china and as the as the lender, as the builder, as an owner, as an operator, according to mine do influence in foreign countries. this is isaac card and he's a china expert at the us based carnegie think tank. his research focus is on china's maritime power. there's use of economic coersion against trading partners that that's right. or actuality of withholding certain trade and the, the sort of control over the trading network itself helps give china a bunch of different mechanisms by which it can accomplish that. meaning,

china has gaines leverage over many countries. in 2022, china was accused of having used it in the u. n. human rights council. there was a proposal to talk just talk about chinese human rights violations against the countries weak or muslim minority internment camps. here are the 47 countries in the council at the time these countries said yes to talking these countries said no. these upstate note that a lot of the african countries in the council voted know, china has invested in infrastructure projects in some of the countries that voted yes and all of the countries that voted no. the proposal was rejected. of course, it could have been a coincidence kind of increase because most of the investment to those countries to even to learn from time to learn tiny. so maybe that prefer more like more attorneys model and that's their choice. one thing is for sure,

china is involvement in ports. it's cementing a global network with political allies, a trade ties now that china has built that trade network, it's anxious to protect it. let's look at one of those key choke points we mentioned before. this narrow straight between africa and the radian peninsula is called by the monday at the suez canal is on the other end of the red sea here. around 12 percent of world trade usually passes through here. and you guessed it. china has a port here in the small country of 2 booty. china also has it's only official for a naval base here, right next to the commercial port. it has stakes in china, said the reason for opening a bass and your body is to secure a trade from piracy. and it's not the only country with the military base

instability. take a look the by the way, the us space is around 13 kilometers from china space. but we'll get to that 5 over e later. so many countries are set up on the straight viability. in part because of a tax like the most recently who's the rebels from yemen, have been targeting commercial ships in the red sea. those attacks have been so intense that they changed global trade routes. many ships are now avoiding the red sea altogether and taking this much longer route to get to europe. along with russia, china reportedly even struck a deal with the goofiest to avoid their ships being hit. the un says disruptions to trade in general are increasing all over the world. a worry, especially for the chinese the country is not only a big ex border,

but also needs to import resources like oil and minerals to keep its economy running. there is a, there is a risk to china, off of the disruption of that network, and that, that would really cause significant problems for their economic models. and political rivalries could also lead to disruption. there is this perception in china that they're vulnerable to uh, to us sanctions, to us naval introduction, to other us efforts alongside allies, to essentially cut china out of the global trading system. so it's no surprise the giant container vessels aren't the only ships from china. is showing up at these ports now. meet the people's liberation army navy, the p l a n th,

the navy's official mission is to safeguard china's overseas interests that include securing trade between not just means like war, bravo and committed for you. i also have news for wide public news uh, security policies. in the last few years, china has been massively building up its navy. china can now arrival to us in some important military capabilities and already has a larger fleet if you only look at ship numbers and it's building even more. plus, there has been rumors about potential new naval bases beyond your body for a while. the most likely spots for them are, you guessed it, some of the overseas ports china is involved in the us research lab. a data found weak ports that they think could become chinese military bases within the next 5 years. remember creevy in cameroon? well, it's on the list in china is the port operator there. the port is deep enough to

harbor a big war ships. and china and cameroon, on good terms, politically and even without ports like creepy, officially becoming naval bases. the people's liberation army has made quite extensive use of this network of port facilities, all of the ports, and virtually any commercial for it is intrinsically a dual use. uh facility. because naval ships need some of the same things that any commercial ship does in particular fuel and water, food and the ability to, to rest their crews. and there's more so us is concerned chinese involvement in ports could block or limit us commercial and military access to them. and the china is using ports to spike like here at the port of holly fund in the united arab emirates, us intelligence set a new plan terminal. there was actually

a secret military facility. just to put the us accusations in context. china has 14 and military base, and the us as well see for yourself. the bigger the bubble in each country, the more us military bases there are there, the, we don't know how the use of this port network will ultimately play out. the us is watching warily as china expands into what they perceive as their backyard in latin america. one of the new ports chung kite input route. it will supposedly slash shipping times between south america and asia. a chinese shipping company will be the sole operator of the port, which is why us officials have repeatedly boys concerned about the projects. but china's port promise remains attractive around the world. as they expand their port

networks, they're gaming new allies willing to harbor their ambition. the, [000:00:00;00] the next stop, the space rockets are launching into orbit to build the infrastructure of the future. thousands of satellites circle the earth in endless formats, transmitting data and signals at speeds that are out of this world. and the super rich, their space bound to round trips included with rockets being caught in mid air.