Ed Cropley: There’s a Lot More at Stake For China in the Zambian Debt Talks Than Just Getting Repaid

Ed Cropley is a London-based Associate Editor for Reuters and one of the news service's most prominent columnists.

While Zambia’s $5.8 billion of outstanding debts to Chinese creditors is indeed a lot of money, getting fully repaid may not be the primary concern for policymakers in Beijing, said Reuters Breakingviews columnist Ed Cropley in his latest opinion video:

“The precedent is probably a far bigger worry to Beijing. It’s now on the hook for $100 billion of debt to poor countries, a twenty-fold increase over the last 15 years. Give Zambia too much leeway and other heavily indebted countries like Sri Lanka or Ethiopia or Angola will demand the same.

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