China's gigantic 'Belt and Road' initiative project, after leaving its 5th year behind, some participating countries getting stuck in the debt swamp and becoming unable to pay their loans, 'Is the project's star going out?' brings to mind the question.
Some of the countries that are part of the initiative are trying to exist in the project with billions of dollars in loans from China.
The ı Belt and Road enerji initiative, aimed primarily at connecting Asia, Africa and Europe, includes billions of dollars of infrastructure investment projects, including roads, railways, ports and power transmission lines.
Şi: Project is not Chinese club, open to everyone
Chinese President Shi Cinping, who is accepted as the idea father of the project, said in his speech on the 5th anniversary of the initiative, “This is not a Chinese club. It is open to all and inclusive ”.
He also added that the trade volume between the countries involved in the Belt and Road initiative has exceeded 5 trillion dollars and direct investment figures have reached 60 billion Dollars.
However, some of the countries that got into the debt spiral started to raise their voices in the opposite direction of the project, which is also called the “New Silk Road”.
According to experts, although the Chinese leader drew a pink picture in his speech, some countries began to think that they were drawn into a debt trap by China.
In fact, according to experts, some of the countries that have borrowed from China have already begun to question whether it is worth investing so much.
Malaysia will cancel projects
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammed announced during his visit to China's capital Beijing in August that his country will shelter three Chinese-backed infrastructure projects, including a $ 20 billion railway.
"We do not need these projects," said Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammed, who stated that they did not think that the projects signed during the period of former Prime Minister Necip Rezak were viable and said, "We will cancel these projects."
New Pakistani government cautious on projects
Also, the party of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who came to work last month in Pakistan, vowed that the public will be much more transparent and careful about repaying billions of dollars of loans from China regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project between the two countries.
Currently, more than 200 projects supported by China are underway in Pakistan.
The financing of most of the projects is sustained by loans from China.
Naşid: China's activities colonialism
Exiled President of the island of Maldives in the Indian Ocean, ex-President Muhammed Naşid, said that his country's 80 percent foreign debt is to China and Beijing's activities in the Maldives can be defined as 'colonialism' or 'land extortion'.
Unable to repay its debt, Sri Lanka hands over its strategic port to China
Another Asian country, Sri Lanka, with a large amount of debt to China, had to pay a hefty price.
Unable to repay loans from Beijing, Sri Lanka rented a strategically important port to China for 99 years last year.
Stating that China is not very successful in international bureaucracy issues such as foreign aid and expansion of soft power, Anne Stevenson-Yang, Research Director from J Capital Research, said, “Not surprisingly, they are not very good at this. For example, they brought up political issues such as Malaysia, which nobody expected. ”
"In an environment where Yuan, the currency of China, is depreciated and is perceived as a more ambiguous (ambiguous) partner in the international arena, Stevenson-Yang will be more prejudiced towards some projects with Beijing," said Stevenson-Yang.
According to a report by the American think tank Center for Global Development, there are "serious concerns" about the sustainability of government debt in eight countries that have received the 'Silk Road fund'.
These countries are Pakistan, Djibouti, Maldives, Mongolia, Laos, Montenegro, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
According to the report of the US think tank, the cost of the China-Laos railway project is $ 6,7 billion.
This figure corresponds to almost half of the Southeast Asian country's GDP.
The shining star of Africa: China
The International Monetary Fund, the IMF, warned Djibouti, an African country, that it is facing "high debt risk".
Click to read the rest of the news
Source : I tr.euronews.co
Be the first to comment