The Chinese government provided its first official confirmation that it will provide Sri Lanka with a two-year debt repayment moratorium on $2.83 billion of loans owed to The China Exim Bank.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning’s statement on Friday was intended, in part, to serve as a rebuttal to critics, including the U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who’ve accused Chinese creditors of not doing enough to help relieve Sri Lanka’s debt crisis and for being a potential “spoiler.”