Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi insisted Monday that China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an international infrastructure program criticized as debt-fueled imperialism by the U.S. government, is doing better than ever after the coronavirus pandemic.
China confirmed this week that its government has written off almost $80 million in debt from Cameroon following pressure from Chinese journalists who uncovered the deal.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday denied reports that China is preparing to seize the strategic port of Mombasa as compensation for delinquent loan payments, denouncing reports of the impending seizure as “propaganda.”
China’s debt colonization of Africa is well underway, as one African nation after another takes out gigantic loans from Chinese banks to build infrastructure projects that appear financially unsustainable. Kenya is one of the most heavily indebted countries, but President Uhuru Kenyatta is on his way to Beijing for a summit at which he will reaffirm his commitment to the Belt and Road initiative.
