China has dramatically curtailed its lending in recent years. Now, it’s emerging as the largest debt collector for many of the world’s poorest nations — a shift that threatens to undermine poverty reduction efforts and fuel instability, according to a new report.
Lending for China’s Belt and Road Initiative — which includes funding for a massive series of new railways, ports and roads in the developing world — began winding down before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Peak repayment: China’s global lending, released this month by Australia’s Lowy Institute, a foreign policy think tank. The report points to diplomatic pressure within China to restructure unsustainable debt and to recover outstanding debts from abroad for the change.
Are those other capitalist countries building infrastructure or just extracting wealth? It often seems like only the latter while China is at least building infrastructure first. I’m not sure how predatory it is, but it seems less predatory than what’s happened in the past.
Depends on the case. Hospital, probably good, building train tracks, dams, canals, ports that the colonial empires also did to facilitate extraction of resources. Depends on how it is implemented and how much the locals are listened to and integrated in the process. It is certainly possible for both to benefit.
Absolutly. This would be a fun topic to dive into, but I don’t know where to get raw, unbiased info about the deals (nor do I have time).