Developing countries owe China at least $1.1 trillion – and the debts are due | CNN Business
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Developing countries owe Chinese lenders at least $1.1 trillion dollars, according to a new data analysis published Monday, which says more than half of the thousands of loans China has doled out over two decades are due as many borrowers struggle financially.

Developing countries owe Chinese lenders at least $1.1 trillion, according to a new data analysis published Monday, which says more than half of the thousands of loans China has doled out over two decades are due as many borrowers struggle financially.

Overdue loan repayments to Chinese lenders are soaring, according to AidData, a university research lab at William & Mary in Virginia, which found that nearly 80% of China’s lending portfolio in the developing world is currently supporting countries in financial distress.

For years, Beijing marshalled its finances toward funding infrastructure across poorer countries – including under an effort that Chinese leader Xi Jinping branded as his flagship “Belt and Road Initiative,” which launched a decade ago this fall.

That funding flowed liberally into roads, airports, railways and power plants from Latin America to Southeast Asia and helped power economic growth among borrowing countries. Along the way, it drew many governments closer to Beijing and made China the world’s largest creditor, while also sparking accusations of irresponsible lending.

  • Liška@feddit.deEnglish
    18·
    1 year ago

    I don’t know whether this should be hastily dismissed as “FUD”: Do you want to live in a world where all of your country’s critical infrastructure is owned by Chinese state-owned corporations as soon as your government can no longer service its loans to Beijing?

    … The situation is certainly not entirely comparable, but since the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, we have seen the problems Germany has had with the fact that its gas storage facilities belong to Gazprom…

    • zerfuffleEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I mean… Is it somehow better to not have that critical infrastructure?

      China doesn’t really want to integrate new territories. They’re basically just trying to reclaim the territorial lines from the Qing Dynasty (which China sees as “rightfully Chinese” and which was “stolen from China by the British and the Japanese during the century of humiliation”).

      Remember that neither China was invited to discussions on the Treaty of San Francisco for Japanese war reparations…