US loans to Africa have strings attached

Ray Washburne, president and CEO of the US development finance institution, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, spoke to Reuters recently. Playing the role of a "savior" of poor nations, he said: "China was overloading poor nations with unsustainable debt through large-scale infrastructure projects that are not economically viable."

And he claimed that the China-led Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to promote better connectivity among Asian, African and European countries, was creating a debt trap for many poor nations.

"Just look at any project in these countries and they're overbuilding the size, we try to have countries realize that they're indebting themselves to the Chinese," Washburne said.