I remember reading about Sri Lanka, how it’s a prime example of the lie about Chinese debt diplomacy. To quote the article: “Research shows that Chinese banks are willing to restructure the terms of loans and have never actually seized an asset from any country, much less the port of Hambantota”
I don’t know much about them, but in what way are they aggressive?
Or that they don’t really care if they get the money back
To some extent, yes.
The second problem with the narrative is that it relies on the assumption that it is Chinese policy to advance predatory loans with onerous terms and conditions to ensnare countries into debt. In reality, China often advances loans at fairly low interest rates, and is often willing to restructure the terms of existing loans to be more favorable to the borrowing country, or even forgive loans altogether. In fact, in August of 2022, the Chinese government announced it was forgiving 23 interest-free loans in 17 African countries. Prior to that, between 2000 and 2019, China had also restructured a total of $15 billion of debt and forgiven $3.4 billion in loans they had given to African countries.
I have also seen claims, (with no real evidence) that in the terms of the loan is a clause that forces the borrower to create an escrow account that pays the loan in advance of other responsibilities. But as I said, those claims didn’t really back it up with a lot evidence
The liberationnews article did contain this:
But according to analysis by AidData, who obtained a copy of the contract, the airport was not even a source of collateral that the lender could seize in the first place! What the conditions of the agreement did require was that cash collateral be placed in a separate escrow account which could then be seized in the event of default — a fairly standard clause for international projects financing
I remember reading about Sri Lanka, how it’s a prime example of the lie about Chinese debt diplomacy. To quote the article: “Research shows that Chinese banks are willing to restructure the terms of loans and have never actually seized an asset from any country, much less the port of Hambantota”
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I don’t know much about them, but in what way are they aggressive?
To some extent, yes.
https://www.liberationnews.org/why-chinese-debt-trap-diplomacy-is-a-lie/
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The liberationnews article did contain this:
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