Chinese officials have said they will continue to invest heavily in Africa in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic as a means of supporting the continent’s increasing debt to Beijing, according to an article published in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) newspaper Global Times on Monday.
In April, the G20 agreed to a deal in which its wealthiest member nations were asked to suspend debt payments to the end of the year for the world’s poorest, most indebted nations — most in Africa — as they struggle through the global recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Beijing has hesitated to comply with the proposal, insisting it will deal with African nations on a “case-by-case” basis, but refusing to write off African debts, as the G20 suggests. As the single largest creditor to Africa, China’s reluctance to comply with the measures significantly hinders the deal.
In the CCP report published on Monday, the article’s author — “a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Chinese Ministry of Commerce” — reiterated Beijing’s belief that suspending Africa’s debts would not be helpful, an argument it made last month shortly after the G20 deal was announced.
“The purpose of the loans was to facilitate African development, and China aims to solve debt problems through development. Simply offering write-offs would not be in accordance with African countries’ long-term development interests,” the article read.
Instead, China offered examples of what it deemed an appropriate response to the African debt problem:
For countries facing extreme challenges, China may increase grants which do not need to be paid back, among other supportive measures. China’s support of projects concerning people’s livelihoods, like constructing schools and hospitals, may be enhanced so as to speed up the resumption of production. From a long-term perspective, China will continue to support infrastructure construction in African countries to help their industrialization and modernization, the essential direction of China-Africa cooperation.
Through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China expands its global reach by recruiting developing nations throughout Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America to develop various infrastructure projects. The projects are financed through predatory loans, which Beijing uses to encourage the foreign nation’s dependence on China.
Between 2000 and 2017, “China advanced more than $143 billion to 49 African governments and their state-owned companies,” according to data from the China Africa Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
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