250
China ‘world’s biggest debt collector’ as poorer nations struggle with its loans
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023
250 points (97.7% liked)
World News
39011 readers
404 users here now
A community for discussing events around the World
Rules:
-
Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
-
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
-
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
-
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
-
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
-
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
-
Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
-
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
Lemmy World Partners
News !news@lemmy.world
Politics !politics@lemmy.world
World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world
Recommendations
For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/
- Consider including the article’s mediabiasfactcheck.com/ link
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Who honestly didn't see this outcome?
China splashes money at developing countries they have little or no ability to repay.
The money is spent contracting Chinese construction companies to build infrastructure projects of dubious relevance and value.
So, China loans the money, which returns to China via Chinese construction companies and the countries are left holding the bill.
I doubt the CCP ever actually expected to be paid back but will hold the outstanding loans over the country's heads as leverage.
I also expect that some of the countries involved never had any intention of paying back the loans and are playing the CCP for idiots. Once things get worse internationally they will nationalise the projects and tell China to go fuck themselves with the west's tacit support and backing.
the companies are paying the loans back by granting China resource extraction rights which are especially useful to China because their construction companies are already there and the loans are for infrastructure that will help with extraction and shipping
Behold Chinese colonialism.
It is what it is.
Imperialism
But the good one
Or by giving complete control of the megastructure, if it's a shipping port or something essential
This is par for the course in international assistance, not specific to China. Not limited to development assistance, either; most famously, US military aid to many countries around the world is earmarked for spending on US weapons firms.
When politics stopped being about helping the country and became more about point scoring and massaging one's own reputation, it became a breeding ground for wealthy countries like China to swoop in as a lifeline.
What do I mean?
Well, imagine you're a country struggling financially. The new president is sworn in, promising an infrastructure reform, more jobs and prosperity to the country.
The president then sells the country to China and China comes over and starts developing their infrastructure, builds hospitals and creates a lot more jobs. The president gets hailed as a turning point for the country, the end of corruption. They end their term, get set up for the rest of their life with money, protection etc.
Then, the next president takes the job, and China says it's time to pay up. The guy who just sat in his new fancy chair has no idea what deals the previous president made, and realises the previous president made a deal with the devil, sorted themselves out and is leaving the cleanup to the next guy.
Is there a way out? No, not really. It's less about whether you owe money and more about who you owe it to. IMO owing a particular country is never a good idea because you could find relations break down between your country and the country you owe and suddenly that debt comes with a side serving of pain.
When ever was politics about helping the country?
Usually when countries are founded.
Like, imagine a country living under oppression finally gains their independence and can govern themselves. Everyone alive in that country knows how bad things were and the leader they elect promises that they will no longer have to worry.
Sure they have their challenges but they get on with it and they make it work.
The person who becomes the leader 3 generations later? To them it's just a way to gain power, make money and do what they want. They have no idea how people felt when they were being oppressed, and how desperately they wanted to be liberated.
One of my favourite quotes by G. Michael Hopf summarises this perfectly:
Doesn't even happen all that often in those conditions.
Most of the loans are secured by oil or other ressources besides money. So theoretically those lands can always "pay".
Rare earth metals is another big one besides oil
Everyone saw the debt trap.
Reminds me of this scene from the Simpsons: https://youtu.be/3xmGQdMijDU?si=4L6gyPZXoia6vy0X