BEIJING – The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Friday criticizing theWestern media for its so-called “China debt trap theory”, said that theproportion of the Chinese loan to some countries including Pakistan wasgenerally not high.
“As per data from the Pakistani government, 42% of Pakistan’s long-termdebt comes from loans from multilateral institutions, and Chinese loansaccount for only 10%,” Hua Chunying said during her regular press briefinghere.
She said the preferential loan rate offered by China to Pakistan was about2%, which was far lower than the loans provided by Western countries toPakistan. “I think these numbers are very illustrative.”
The spokesperson said indeed, the proportion of Chinese loans to theforeign debt of the countries concerned was generally not high, adding, “Idon’t know where the so-called “China debt trap theory” of some Westernmedia hype comes from.”
She said according to the statistics of the Sri Lankan central bank, loansfrom China accounted for only about 10% of Sri Lanka’s external debt in2017, of which 61.5% were concessional loans below the international marketinterest rate.
“Chinese loans do not constitute the main burden of Sri Lanka’s externaldebt,” she added.Sri Lankan officials had long publicly stated that there was no such thingas a “debt trap” in the port of Hambantota, she said.Hua Chunying said there were also some media that were concerned about thedebt problems of African countries.
“As everyone knows, the African debt problem has a complex historicalbackground and reality. In essence, it is not only an economic andfinancial issue but also a product of an unjust and irrationalinternational economic order,” she added.
She pointed out from 2000 to 2016, China’s non-loan loans accounted foronly 1.8% of Africa’s total external debt, and it was mainly concentratedin industries such as infrastructure.
“So far, no African country has complained because it is in debt crisisbecause of cooperation with China. On the contrary, many African leadershave positively evaluated China’s cooperation in Africa’s investment andfinancing, and look forward to expanding cooperation with China”, she added.
“Yesterday, when I answered the question about the “debt dilemma” of theSouth Pacific island country, it was said that the same funds, how thefunds of the Western countries are sweet “pies”, and what China hasprovided become a dark “trap”? ! This is unreasonable,” she added.Hua Chunying hoped that some countries, people and the media in the Westcould objectively and fairly view the cooperation between China andrelevant countries. – APP