Category: Debt Trap

Indonesia to Renegotiate High-Speed Rail Cost-Sharing with China

Indonesia will reopen talks with China on how to split a $1.2 billion cost overrun on the Jakarta–Bandung high-speed rail, Whoosh, as a new state holding prepares a debt restructuring for the operator. Whoosh is a 142-kilometer Jakarta–Bandung line that ...

Cambodia Defends China’s BRI Against Debt-Trap Accusation

China’s Belt and Road Initiative drew a forceful defense from Cambodia’s leadership this week, even as the accusations, mainly from the U.S. and its allies, over “debt-trap diplomacy” continue to shadow Beijing’s flagship infrastructure program. The phrase, coined in 2017 after ...

Biden Administration Grabs Last Chance to Push Debt Trap Narrative

U.S. President Joe Biden argued on Wednesday that the United States is striving to be a qualitatively different investor from China in Africa. In making this case, administration officials couldn’t resist one last reference to a meme cherished by Democrats and ...

Senior Commerce Ministry Official Says China Not the Main Creditor in Africa, Refutes Debt Trap Charge

The top Africa official at China's powerful Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) forcefully pushed back against U.S. and Indian accusations that Beijing engages in predatory lending on the continent. Shen Xiang, MOFCOM's director of West Asia and Africa, responded to a question ...

WEEK IN REVIEW: The Chinese Supermarket Scandal in Nigeria

Nigerian consumer protection authorities shut a Chinese supermarket in the capital, Abuja after a video went viral showing the store refusing entry to local residents. The scandal sparked outrage online and was among the top stories of the week on national ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

How to Lure Chinese Financing Back to the Global South: Report

Global South countries face increasing financing pressure, endangering their ability to keep developing while also implementing measures to deal with a growing climate crisis. The disruption of global trade is coupled with a larger megatrend: flows of international capital to the developing world have turned negative. This means that countries are now routinely paying more to service loans than they receive in disbursements.

The vast majority of Global South borrowers ...

Pentagon’s Top General for U.S. Forces in Africa Isn’t as Worried About Chinese Bases and Debt Traps as He Used to Be

The Pentagon's commander for U.S. forces in Africa, Marine Corps General Michael Langley, was once very worried about Chinese "debt traps" in Africa and the prospect that the PLA was looking to build a new base on Africa's Atlantic Coast. But ...

Why Biden’s Use of ‘Debt Trap’ Was so Awkward

This weekend, U.S. President Joe Biden made clear that, no matter how often it’s debunked, the “debt trap” will never die. Without recapping the entire debate, the talking point implies that Global South countries work with China because they’re ill-informed or have ...

All it Takes is a Simple Google Search to Confirm the China Debt Trap Meme Isn’t Real

President Joe Biden's latest reference to Chinese "debt traps" is part of a broader pattern among high-level U.S. legislative, government and military officials to level the charge against China's lending practices. It's odd that they continue to make the claim since it's been ...

Why the Repeated Claims of Chinese Debt Trap Diplomacy is So Damaging to U.S. Foreign Policy

U.S. President Joe Biden’s comment to leaders from the Americas that: “I want to make sure that our closest neighbors know they have a real choice between debt-trap diplomacy and high-quality transparent approaches to infrastructure and to development,” was only a passing moment. 

New Boston University Report Challenges Chinese Debt Trap Meme That’s Still Popular With U.S. Government Officials

Researchers at Boston University's Global Development Policy Center did not mince words in a report published this week, in which they stated that "debt trap diplomacy is not a driver of Chinese lending and overseas development finance." For anyone who follows ...

It’s China, Not Africa That Could be Facing a Debt Trap: Report

At 12% of Africa’s total external debt, China didn’t cause the current wave of debt distress hitting the continent. But the crisis presents Beijing with a dilemma: should it strongarm these countries to get its money back or trade economic losses for diplomatic gains? ...

New Report Debunks Chinese Debt Trap Narrative in Sri Lanka

The Chinese debt trap narrative was started based on the purported surrender of the Port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka. When Colombo fell behind in its payments to the China Exim Bank for the loan, the story goes, Beijing seized the ...
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