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.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    8 months ago

    When the US builds an oil export terminal in Nigeria, the location is fully privatized and administered by western nationals. There’s no path from the dockyard to the manager’s office. There’s no state interest in the facilities, save some meager tax revenue that’s shaved to the bone by accounting tricks. There’s no Nigerian retirees who get to profit off the dockyard’s operations through pensions or 401ks. The ports are export-oriented, with the intention of taking Nigerian natural resources out.

    When a Chinese state enterprise builds a dockyard in Kenya, there’s shared ownership out of the gate. Kenyans share managerial roles. Kenyans share equity. The Kenyan state government gets a huge boost in revenues. And the ports are bidirectional, with Kenyan locals getting to benefit from cheap Chinese imports - particularly high tech imports like electronics and motor vehicles - as Chinese firms export Kenyan minerals.

    Bi-directional trade is how the old English colonies worked, too. And that trade made English colonial enclaves incredibly prosperous both for the old world mercantilists and the new world plantation bosses. Its a lucrative model for everyone on the inside track.

    The worst thing you can say about China is that they’re simply doing imperialism better than the Americans.