By Xin Ping
These days some US senior officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield have continuously made comments attacking China-Africa relations, in total disregard of the ethics for politicians.
Groundless and unjustified accusations
During their most recent trips to Africa, they once again tried to hype up the so-called “Chinese debt trap” narrative. They said that many African countries face debt traps because of their relationships with China. The truth is the “Chinese debt trap” claim is a lie made up by the US and some other Western countries.
China is not the major provider of loans to developing countries. Developing countries mainly borrow from commercial and multilateral lenders. According to the World Bank’s International
Debt Statistics, by the end of 2020, commercial and multilateral creditors accounted for 40% and 34% respectively of the public external debt of 82 low-income and lower-middle-income countries, while bilateral official creditors took up 26% and China only less than 10%.
China is not the major source of African countries’ debt. According to research released recently by UK-based charity group Debt Justice, about three-quarters of the $696 billion external debt of 49 African countries is owed to multilateral institutions and non-Chinese private creditors. The average interest rate on loans from Western private lenders is almost twice that of Chinese lenders.
As Debt Justice’s head of policy pointed out, “Western leaders blame China for debt crises in Africa, but this is a distraction. The truth is their own banks, asset managers and oil traders are far more responsible.”
Reasons behind the US smearing
Why do the US and certain Western media blatantly spread lies about “China’s debt trap”? Because they see Africa as their exclusive sphere of influence and China as a challenger to their influence and interests. When they realized that they cannot spend hard currency and offer real investment for Africa and might be losing out in the competition with China in Africa,the US and some other Western countries started to use the so-called “soft power” to attack China,wishing to win with dirty tricks.
Figures speak for themselves. China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years since 2009. China’s trade with Africa has continued to rise and it amounted to $254.3 billion in 2021. In comparison, the US trade with Africa has declined in recent years and only reached $64.23 billion in 2021.
China supports Africa in making infrastructure development a priority for economic revitalization and has undertaken thousands of projects on the continent. A lot of facts and figures on China-Africa cooperation can be found in the white paper entitled "China and Africa in the New Era: A Partnership of Equals". Let me just cite a few here. Over the past two decades, Chinese companies have utilized various funds to help African countries build and upgrade more than 10,000 km of railways, nearly 100,000 km of highways, nearly 1,000 bridges and 100 ports, and 66,000 km of power transmission and distribution networks.
More importantly, China treats African countries as equal partners, as indicated by the title of the above-mentioned white paper.
By contrast, the US seldom treats African countries as equal partners. It has never really respected and valued Africa for its own sake and its president once even went so far as to dismiss them as “shitholes”. The US has frequently imposed unilateral sanctions on some African countries. Its long-term comprehensive sanctions on Zimbabwe have inflicted huge suffering on the country.
Over the years, the US government has put forward initiatives like Prosper Africa and Power Africa, released strategies and promised billions of dollars for Africa. But all these are finally proven to be blank checks and never be materialized as expected.
All the facts and data show that the so-called “Chinese debt trap” is pure disinformation and a narrative trap created by the US and some Western countries. Their hidden agenda is to drive a wedge between China and Africa, shift the blame and shirk their responsibility. Their gimmicks won’t fool African countries, who know full well who their true partner is.
A new survey early this year found that the vast majority of African youth see China as the most influential foreign player in Africa.
Many African countries and people have expressed their objections to the US allegation. Rwandan President Paul Kagame pointed out that China’s presence in Africa is different from that of other countries: “I don’t think China has forced any country in Africa to take their money to accumulate the kind of debt you may find with some nations.” Beatrice Matiri-Maisori, a senior economics lecturer at Kenya's Riara University, said that “We have quite an array of financial lenders in the country. So,I wouldn’t say in any way that China is actually getting Kenya or any other African country into a debt trap.”
China to continue to promote international cooperation with Africa
In the face of the evolving international situation, rising global challenges and repeated external disturbances, China and Africa have stayed the course in enhancing solidarity and focusing on cooperation. The people in Africa are getting real benefits. We have much more to look forward to in the future.
We call on relevant countries to take substantive actions, not just pay lip service. What Africa needs is a favorable and amicable cooperation environment, not the outdated zero-sum mentality of the Cold War years. What Africa would welcome is mutually beneficial cooperation for the greater good of the people, not major-country rivalry for geopolitical gains.
Africa should be a big stage for international cooperation, not an arena for competition among major countries. If there has to be competition, let’s compare who has done more for Africa, who has contributed more to Africa, and who has delivered more benefits to the African people. China is ready to join hands with all countries with goodwill toward Africa, and make new contributions to an even brighter future for Africa.
