China has dramatically curtailed its lending in recent years. Now, it’s emerging as the largest debt collector for many of the world’s poorest nations — a shift that threatens to undermine poverty reduction efforts and fuel instability, according to a new report.

Lending for China’s Belt and Road Initiative — which includes funding for a massive series of new railways, ports and roads in the developing world — began winding down before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Peak repayment: China’s global lending, released this month by Australia’s Lowy Institute, a foreign policy think tank. The report points to diplomatic pressure within China to restructure unsustainable debt and to recover outstanding debts from abroad for the change.

  • catloaf@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    Except they don’t get the hospital, they get loaned money to build a hospital, and China expects them to default. Then China takes the hospital.

    It’s even more obvious when it’s a shipping port. You’ve built a port for China to control.