International Minister Qin Gang denied on Wednesday allegations by some international politicians and media that China’s loans to African international locations are creating “debt traps”.
He made the remarks throughout a joint information convention with Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the African Union Fee, on the physique’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Qin, who’s on his first journey abroad because the nation’s prime diplomat, labeled the claims “narrative traps” and groundless accusations.
Of the G20 members, China has provided probably the most debt suspension to African international locations and has signed offers or reached settlement with 19 of them on suspending debt, he mentioned.
President Xi Jinping introduced in 2021 that “China is able to channel to African international locations $10 billion from its share of the Worldwide Financial Fund’s new allocation of Particular Drawing Rights”.
Qin mentioned, “Related works have achieved progress in phases”.
He cited a World Financial institution report that confirmed multilateral finance establishments and personal collectors account for almost three-quarters of Africa’s complete debt. “They might and may play a much bigger function within the debt reduction subject of Africa,” Qin mentioned.
Observers mentioned elevating the “debt lure” hype once more shouldn’t be useful to relieving the monetary burden that the least-developed international locations in Africa face, given the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, the worldwide financial downturn and geopolitical conflicts.
“The final word answer for resolving the debt subject of African international locations is to push for his or her progress in improvement, poverty reduction and attaining their financial potential,” mentioned He Wenping, a senior researcher on the Chinese language Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of West-Asian and African Research.
“China has performed greater than many Western international locations when it comes to creating job alternatives, making funding and constructing factories in African international locations,” she mentioned.
Hassan Khanenje, director of the HORN Worldwide Institute for Strategic Research, informed Turkiye’s Anadolu Company: “In case you take a look at the extent and the diploma of (China’s) funding, even simply beginning with Ethiopia, many African international locations have been extraordinarily receptive to Chinese language funding.”
Media claims of the creation of a “debt lure” in Africa have pointed to loans beneath the Belt and Highway Initiative, after China signed cooperation offers with some African international locations.
Ren Lin, head of the Division of World Governance on the CASS’ Institute of World Economics and Politics, mentioned some developed international locations with ulterior motives have demonized BRI cooperation between China and companion international locations, by claiming that constructing tasks beneath the initiative results in “debt traps”.
“The debt problems with these international locations concerned within the BRI needs to be attributed to different elements, similar to unsettled ongoing points, the influence of the worldwide monetary disaster, the stimulus packages of these international locations themselves and extreme financing in monetary markets,” she mentioned.
In distinction with some Western international locations pushing different nations’ economies to the purpose of collapse, China has been earnest in suspending the money owed of African international locations inside the G20 framework, she mentioned.
Requested by reporters concerning the second US-Africa leaders’ summit held final month in Washington, Qin mentioned, “Africa needs to be a giant stage for worldwide cooperation, not an enviornment for competitors amongst main international locations”.
Because the begin of this century, China has constructed over 6,000 kilometers of railway, greater than 6,000 km of roads, almost 20 ports, and over 80 main energy amenities in Africa, Qin mentioned. “We’re glad to see any nation — irrespective of who it’s — that’s honest in serving to Africa obtain peace and improvement,” he mentioned.
China is prepared to embark on trilateral and multilateral cooperation with African international locations to collectively make higher contributions to the revitalization of Africa, he added.