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Financial Times Explores the Current State of Chinese Lending in Africa

by Eric Olander

Last year’s controversy surrounding the fate of the Entebbe International Airport in Uganda and the (incorrect) allegation that it risks being seized by Chinese creditors is the subject of a new in-depth report by two prominent Financial Times journalists, Africa Editor David Pilling and Greater China Correspondent Kathrin Hill.

They use the Entebbe Airport story as a kind of case study, or more of a cautionary tale, to try and explain the current state of Chinese lending patterns in Africa. While they don’t provide any firm conclusions, they do leave the reader with the impression that Chinese asset seizures remain a risk (the “debt trap” narrative that has been attacked by scholars and analysts) and that Chinese creditors are somehow behaving nefariously because they want their money back.

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