China slams 'debt trap' allegations by the West

The so-called Chinese debt trap is more of a "narrative trap "created by those who do not hope to see China-Africa cooperation pick up speed, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday after a study stated that the West, instead of China, is to be blamed for the African debt crisis.

The study, released on Monday by British charity Debt Justice, said African governments owe three times more debt to Western banks, asset managers and oil traders than they do to China, and are charged double the interest.

"Western leaders through G7 have attributed the failure to make progress on debt restructuring to China, but the data shows that this is mistaken," the study said.

Speaking at a regular news briefing in Beijing, Wang said that just as the organization's head of policy had pointed out, Western leaders blame China for debt crisis in Africa, but this is a distraction as the truth is that their own banks, asset managers and oil traders are far more responsible for it.

Debt Justice's analysis of World Bank data showed that based on available data of 49 African governments up to the end of 2020, nearly 75 percent of their total $696 billion external debt is owed to multilateral institutions and non-Chinese private creditors.

Over the next seven years, 35 percent of African governments' external debt service will be due to non-Chinese private lenders. For the 24 countries with the highest debt burden, their median average of debt payments by creditor grouping is 32 percent to non-Chinese private lenders.

"All these facts and data demonstrated that the so-called Chinese debt trap is purely fake news," Wang said.

The spokesman also called on developed countries and their private lenders and multinational financial institutions to take more robust action to help developing countries ease their debt burden with a view of achieving inclusive and sustainable development of the global economy.