Heh. This is what you think Belt and Road is? Good neighbor stuff?

Not at all. As I alluded to in my post, China isn't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. They're doing it as a concerted and deliberate strategy to gain strategic control and influence in countries around the world. That's the point. This isn't charity or beneficence, but it is smart.

Take Panama. China wants to make sure the Canal is always open to their ships. Rather than threaten Panama, China's approach is to "kill 'em with kindness" - invest a ton in Panama, offer to build all kinds of infrastructure there (a fourth bridge across the Canal! High speed rail to Costa Rica!), foster positive working relationships with the elected government, etc. They are smart enough to realize that they don't actually need to own the Canal - they just need the government of Panama to regard them positively. So they invite Panama to join the Belt and Road (which Panama did in 2018), and promote tons of projects in the country.

It's been working. China is now South America's largest trading partner (larger than the U.S.). They've gotten other South American countries to join the Belt and Road, to great effect - most recently China built a massive modern mega-port in Peru.

They must be thrilled at the opening that they're being given here. Not only has the nascent Administration been publicly antagonizing Colombia and Panama, but they've also suspended not just all foreign aid, but also all of our government foreign investment programs. We've basically cleared the field for China all over the world. A recent quote discusses that dynamic in the context of Panama, but now it will apply all over Latin America:

Cui Shoujun, director of the Research Center for Latin American Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, expressed confidence that China’s relations with Panama would keep growing, despite American efforts to stymie them.

Mr. Trump might even push Panama closer to Beijing, he added. “You have an extremely domineering American president, and a pragmatic Chinese partner,” he said. Faced with that choice, he said, “the answer is self-evident.”

nytimes.com - China panama explained