Was China’s Ambassador to Somalia Correct When He Claimed That China Accounts For Just 14% of Africa’s Debt?

Yesterday, China’s ambassador to Somalia, Qin Jian, posted a Tweet where he stated that “China accounts for about 14% of all foreign debts in Africa,” which was a figure that we hadn’t previously seen. Since the Chinese government does not provide an easily accessible resource to verify this claim, we turned to Professor Deborah Brautigam, director of the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University to see if she has some insights on the ambassador’s statement.

Below is a transcript of Professor Brautigam’s comments on this issue, lightly edited for clarity, and republished here with her permission:

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by Eric Olander

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