In its Belt and Road initiative, China has laid out plans to spend as much as US$8 trillion dollars on infrastructure intended to connect the Eurasian land mass as well as Africa to create the 21st Century equivalent of the Silk Road, reestablishing China as the center of the globe and cementing global economic ties. At first look, this is a masterful plan as it proposes to create lasting bonds through transportation and energy links. A closer examination raises a series of questions.