Last week, China debuted its Silk Road Economic Belt (or "belt and road initiative"), a large-scale infrastructure project intended to launch "a new era of globalization" by promoting trade between Asia and other regions. Named for the historic Silk Road, the project is also designed to cast China as the new leading defender of free trade, stepping into a geopolitical role President Trump's protectionist rhetoric threatens to leave vacant.
To promote this new Silk Road — and take a swipe at the United States — China's state-run media outlet People's Daily has released a series of cutesy videos preaching international trade and friendship. Belt and road participants will be able to "talk to the world through peace and love," "start a business and watch it grow," and "take my hand and have no regrets," claymation figures explain in a chipper song entitled "One rap song to tell you what exactly is the Belt and Road."
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