Chinese lending has fueled development in Laos and Cambodia,

[phuketrichard]

interesting
while america sends troops in and fucks the country, China sends money'

........While China’s increasing grip on regional allies is obvious to anyone who has visited a place like Cambodia’s Sihanoukville or followed hydro dam construction in Laos, the full extent of Chinese investment became clearer after AidData, a College of William & Mary research lab, recently released a groundbreaking, data-driven report on Chinese loans in developing countries.

Over the course of 18 years, China loaned $843 billion across 165 countries to finance more than 13,000 projects, mostly aligned with its Belt and Road Initiative, the report found. Before the BRI launched in 2013, much of China’s lending took place directly through the government, but that has shifted toward a reliance on private, state-surrogate banks and institutions, allowing fewer restrictions on lending terms and making money traces difficult.

An estimated $385 billion of debt accrued by recipient countries has been underreported to the World Bank and international financial institutions, AidData determined after years of research. Now 42 countries carry debt to China exceeding 10% of GDP, including Laos and Cambodia.

The AidData report also noted many BRI projects have faced problems, leading recipient countries to start “mothballing high-profile BRI projects because of corruption and overpricing concerns.” The G7 hopes to capitalise on this potential BRI disenchantment with the launch of its own Build Back Better World infrastructure programme this year.

From the view in Cambodia, regional overtures by Vietnam notwithstanding, everywhere you look there seems to be another Chinese-funded project. A high-profile diplomatic meeting is one thing, the promise of cash to get things built is another. It’s hard to blame Cambodia for accepting infrastructure money from China.

On a smaller scale, the cash is unfortunately not flowing for many Cambodian social enterprise companies, as I reported from Siem Reap, following the collapse of a business model linked with community development in one of the Kingdom’s poorest provinces.
https://mailchi.mp/globemediaasia/sight ... 44700f68e1

[mannanman]

External debt isn’t really an accurate picture of a country’s debt especially when you pick out one country. USA has over 100% of external debt but UK has 340% of GDP! The UK is a financial hub so that muddies the water significantly, plus other factors.

It’s not as simple as debt owed = bad.

[Darkcel]

Wonder what China will do once these countries decide they won't pay back the debt. Looks like Africa will show us.

[nemo]

You can see by what happened at Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/worl ... -port.html
Sri Lanka, Struggling With Debt, Hands a Major Port to China

Dec. 12, 2017
阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版
NEW DELHI — Struggling to pay its debt to Chinese firms, the nation of Sri Lanka formally handed over the strategic port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease last week, in a deal that government critics have said threatens the country’s sovereignty.

In recent years, China has shored up its presence in the Indian Ocean, investing billions of dollars to build port facilities and plan maritime trade routes as part of its “One Belt, One Road” initiative to help increase its market reach.

Along the way, smaller countries like Sri Lanka have found themselves owing debts they cannot pay. Sri Lanka owes more than $8 billion to state-controlled Chinese firms, officials say.

Sri Lankan politicians said the Hambantota deal, valued at $1.1 billion, was necessary to chip away at the debt, but analysts warned of the consequences of signing away too much control to China.

“The price being paid for reducing the China debt could prove more costly than the debt burden Sri Lanka seeks to reduce,” said N. Sathiya Moorthy, a senior fellow specializing in Sri Lanka at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation.

Sri Lanka has long been in India’s orbit, but its relationship with China has strengthened in recent years. As Western nations accused Mahinda Rajapaksa, the country’s former president, of grievous human rights abuses during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s nearly 26-year civil war, China extended billions of dollars of loans to Mr. Rajapaksa’s government for new infrastructure projects.

In July, the state-controlled China Merchants Port Holdings Company signed a deal with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority to control a 70 percent stake in the Hambantota port, which lies on the southern coast of the country.

Last Friday, Sri Lanka’s Parliament voted to grant tax concessions to a joint venture led by China to develop the port. On Saturday, the government completed the handover of the port to two state-controlled entities run through China Merchants Port Holdings, which has already made its first payment of $300 million to the Sri Lankan government.

“With this agreement, we have started to pay back the loans,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an address to Parliament. “There will be an economic zone and industrialization in the area which will lead to economic development and promote tourism.”

Editors’ Picks

We Wanted to Split Up. OkCupid Had Other Ideas.

8 or 9 Ways to Fix New York’s Traffic Hell Right Now

The Academy Museum Finds Good Intentions in Messy Film History
Continue reading the main story
Critics said the lease could set a precedent for Sri Lanka and other countries that owe money to China to accept deals that involve the signing over of territory. After the original port deal was signed in July, Namal Rajapaksa, a member of Parliament and son of the former president, asked on Twitter whether the government was “playing geopolitics with national assets.”

Perceiving a threat to its regional hegemony, India has also watched with suspicion as cranes operated by Chinese firms began to dot the skyline in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital. To reset the imbalance, India has partnered with Japan to develop a port on Sri Lanka’s eastern coastline, and it has entered into talks to invest in an airport near Hambantota.

“India has been overwhelmed by China’s offensive in its strategic backyard,” said Constantino Xavier, a fellow at Carnegie India in New Delhi.

But across South Asia, there have been some signs of pushback to Chinese investment, including the recent sidelining of hydropower projects in Nepal, Pakistan and Myanmar.

Mr. Xavier said Sri Lanka’s dependency on China has alarmed some countries. “Countries in the region are beginning to realize the long-term costs of Beijing’s massive investment promises,” he said.

[LoukBongThom]

interesting
while america sends troops in and fucks the country, China sends money'

Interesting perspective. America sends money with string (mostly to promote democracy), but no need to be returned. China lends (not send) money with rope, normally with countries' important properties as collaterals if not returned. If China ever sends money, they would ask the countries for voting in favor of their interests at the United Nations (aka bribe).

[SternAAlbifrons]

.

[phuketrichard]

interesting
while america sends troops in and fucks the country, China sends money'

Interesting perspective. America sends money with string (mostly to promote democracy), but no need to be returned. China lends (not send) money with rope, normally with countries' important properties as collaterals if not returned. If China ever sends money, they would ask the countries for voting in favor of their interests at the United Nations (aka bribe).

yep, china loans and when the nation defaults they take something< ( read topic46721.html

i expect china to fully take over the Ream naval base in Cambodia within 5 years and can stop the illusion its still Cambodia's

https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pac ... 72368.html

[hdgh29]

interesting
while america sends troops in and fucks the country, China sends money'

Interesting perspective. America sends money with string (mostly to promote democracy), but no need to be returned. China lends (not send) money with rope, normally with countries' important properties as collaterals if not returned. If China ever sends money, they would ask the countries for voting in favor of their interests at the United Nations (aka bribe).

yep, china loans and when the nation defaults they take something< ( read topic46721.html

i expect china to fully take over the Ream naval base in Cambodia within 5 years and can stop the illusion its still Cambodia's

https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pac ... 72368.html

Of course China has its own agenda and operates solely out of self-interest. Who wouldn't? And I don't see the Western world rushing in with their billions to compete for the privelege of building and maintaining the infrastructure of the third world.Without knowing much more than I read in the news, my question would be, what are the alternatives? The Cambodian economy underwent a dramatic boom in the first 10 years of the century. Why? FDI from China. Those who decry and criticise Chinese investment policies maybe want to live in Cambodia the way it was in the 1990's. The world moves on and if you can't keep up go live in Costa Rica.

[Apollo91881]

interesting
while america sends troops in and fucks the country, China sends money'

Interesting perspective. America sends money with string (mostly to promote democracy), but no need to be returned. China lends (not send) money with rope, normally with countries' important properties as collaterals if not returned. If China ever sends money, they would ask the countries for voting in favor of their interests at the United Nations (aka bribe).

yep, china loans and when the nation defaults they take something< ( read topic46721.html

i expect china to fully take over the Ream naval base in Cambodia within 5 years and can stop the illusion its still Cambodia's

https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pac ... 72368.html

They already own Sihanoukville so that's off the list.

[johnny lightning]

You know full well (or you should) that western countries normally have strings attached to their largesse for things like say human rights, rule of law etc. Those pesky things that some countries and their citizens still care about (or at least pretend to). No surprise that China steps up and says do whatever you like as long as we get what we want. Pretty simple really.