Envoy rebuts 'debt trap' accusations

Beijing's top envoy in Washington has rejected charges that China has left some African countries in a "debt trap" as part of efforts to secure influence in the continent.

Tackling the false accusations, Ambassador Qin Gang said Africa should be a place for international cooperation rather than competition driven by geopolitical goals.

"China's investment and financing assistance to Africa is not a trap, it's a benefit," Qin said at an event hosted by Semafor, a newly launched global news outlet, ahead of a US-Africa Summit due to start in Washington on Tuesday.

China's Foreign Ministry has called talk of a Chinese "debt trap" a narrative trap that the United States and some other Western countries use to defame and smear China and disrupt the country's cooperation with other developing countries.

Over the past two decades, China has provided loans to help African economic and social development, including through the building of hospitals, highways, airports and stadiums, Qin said. "Obviously, there's no such trap. It's not a plot; it's transparent. It's sincere."

The ambassador cited a study in July by the British charity Debt Justice that found African countries owed three times more debt to Western institutions than to China.

The report said that interest rates on private loans are almost double those on Chinese loans, while the most indebted countries are less likely to have their debt dominated by China.

"China is not the biggest creditor of African debts," Qin said. "The debt owned by China is only a small amount."

According to World Bank statistics for this year on international debt, 28.8 percent of Africa's outstanding external debt is owed to multilateral financial institutions and 41.8 percent to commercial creditors mainly composed of Western financial institutions. Combined, they hold nearly three-quarters of the debt, making them the primary creditors of Africa's debt.

China has participated in the Debt Service Suspension Initiative of the G20 and has suspended the most service payments among members of the group, according to Qin.

"We call on all other creditors, multinational internet institutions and the private lenders to take active actions to reduce the debt burden of African countries," he said.

Qin said he hoped that the US-Africa Summit will produce more concrete and workable measures to help Africa.

"We believe that Africa should be a place for international cooperation, not for major-power competition for geopolitical gains," he said. "We welcome all other members of the international community to join us in their global efforts to help Africa."

There are many areas in which China and the US can work together, and the world expects the two countries to cooperate, bearing in mind their important responsibilities for the benefit of the world, he said.

In 2015, the two nations helped African countries like Liberia fight the Ebola virus. They also have joined local partners to build several economic projects, according to the ambassador.

For example, a textile industry park in Ethiopia, jointly sponsored, built and operated by China, the United States and Ethiopia, has become very productive and exported garments to Europe and North America markets.

"That's very successful. I hope we can work with the United States on the peace, security and prosperity in Africa," he said.

Developing world

In addition, Qin said that the two countries can help the developing world, particularly African countries, combat climate change.

There have been calls for China and the US to ramp up cooperation in agriculture and infrastructure to help alleviate hunger and poverty in some parts of Africa.

Monica Medina, US special envoy for biodiversity and water resources, on Monday said there are 821 million people in Asia and Africa who face food insecurity.

Kenneth M. Quinn, president emeritus of The World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines, Iowa, said Sino-US collaboration could help meet the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced: to sustainably and nutritiously feed the 9 to 10 billion people who will be on the planet in 2049.

The two largest economies could work together to upgrade the rural road infrastructure across Africa, Quinn told China Daily in an earlier interview.

"In doing so, China and the US would be assisting African institutions by literally providing a 'road out of poverty', while also helping meet what is arguably the 'greatest global challenge in human history'," he said.