I have the same sentiment but here it is in my own terms. Ports are a tool of trade and can be used in favor of imperialists or against them or at least in a way that creates more independence. I do think there is a qualitative difference in associated development and loan terms here, though. Loans for ports foisted by Imperialists come with conditions that more or less convert an entire country's economy into an extraction economy with unequal exchange, e.g. petrostates, mining states, cheap exploited labor states. With China it is just the port with decent loan terms. And as you mention, associated development lines up with building productive forces within the country rather than subordinating all of production to (neo)colonial extraction.