Warning issued as China to recall debt from 75 countries [View all]
China was the leading financier for developing nations throughout the 2010s, channeling over $1 trillion into infrastructure projects under President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Yet as lending has tapered off and grace periods on many loans have expired, China has emerged as the world's largest official creditor, according to a new report from the Lowy Institute, an Australian foreign policy think tank.
Why It Matters
The BRI, signed on to by approximately 150 countries, has funded thousands of projects worldwide.
Some low-income nations took on more debt than they could repay, in some cases leading to Chinese state-owned enterprises taking control of strategic infrastructure—such as in 2017 when China Merchants Port Holdings famously gained control Sri Lanka's Hambantota Port on a 99-year lease.
Critics, including the United States government, have accused China of "debt-trap diplomacy," or leveraging these debts to gain control over critical infrastructure. China has consistently denied these allegations, saying its overseas lending is conducted on mutually beneficial terms.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/warning-issued-as-china-to-recall-debt-from-75-countries/ar-AA1FHVli
How much of our debt do they own?
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