Rejecting accusations about the “debt-trap diplomacy”, China has insisted that on the contrary, African nations have reaped a great deal of benefits from the infrastructure projects as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.
In fact, African economies were weighed down by a whooping external debt owed to multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors, and not China.
Wang Chao, the spokesman for the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress, made the remarks in response to a question on Saturday during the much-anticipated press conference that marked the beginning of China’s most important political season. Citing statistics from a World Bank report, the spokesman cleared the air around the hyped claims and maintained.
that nearly three-quarters of Africa’s external debt was actually owed to the multilateral institutions and commercial creditors, whereas Beijing was working to ease Africa’s debt burden.
