Dismissing the western allegations about China’s “debt-trap diplomacy”, former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has said that the claims about Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) tricking nations into debt made no sense.
He made the remarks during the 2023 Boao Forum for Asia held last week under the theme “An Uncertain World: Solidarity and Cooperation for Development amid Challenges”.
The former WB president said studies have shown the term “debt-trap diplomacy” is “nothing more than a meme” and called on Asian Americans to stand up to the blind hate.
Citing American political scientist and professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University Deborah Bräutigam, Kim said that the most effective and well-known researcher has not found any evidence to substantiate the claims made about the Chinese debt.
In fact, the term came about because of human negativity bias based on anxiety about the rise of China, he noted while quoting from the study.
“If there is one message we give to the Chinese people, it is please don’t reduce your ambition to help other countries develop their economies and reduce poverty as you have over the last 30 years,” he added.
Using the Gen-Z slang the acronym G.O.A.T (greatest of all time), the former WB bank president said that it was simply a historical fact that in terms of economic development and poverty alleviation, “China is the G.O.A.T, the greatest of all time… don’t let the rest of the world make you the scapegoat”.
