Only the Soviet empire expanded. That lasted until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 - just months after China’s Communist rulers suppressed the pro-freedom movement in Tiananmen.

The People’s Republic of China is already an empire. Tibet and Xinjiang are captive nations within it. In 1997, Britain agreed to turn over Hong Kong to the Chinese Communists in exchange for their promise that for a half-century the former Crown Colony would maintain substantial independence.

That promise is now being broken, most recently by Beijing’s imposition of a law effectively criminalizing dissent. China’s rulers also are more aggressively threatening Taiwan.

But Beijing’s imperial dreams extend far beyond its immediate neighborhood. Seven years ago, it launched what is now called the Belt and Road Initiative. At first, the BRI was widely viewed as a benign foreign assistance, trade and development program.

The Chinese would build roads, rail lines, airports, seaports, dams, power plants and communications networks cheaply and efficiently. They’d offer loans. What’s not to like?

Elaine K. Dezenski, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Economic and Financial Power, has asked that question, and provides some answers in a new report: “Below the Belt and Road: Corruption and Illicit Dealings in China’s Global Infrastructure.”

BRI projects, her research reveals, are “often white elephants that benefit mainly the companies that build them and politicians who allow them to proceed.”

In Sri Lanka, BRI funds were used to build “the world’s emptiest airport, along with a new seaport that is operating at two percent capacity.