As early as the 1970s, countries began to claim islands and various . But this does not comprehend the severity of the situation Africa finds itself. China does not report on its international lending, and Chinese loans literally fall through the cracks of traditional data-gathering institutions. Weve also documented a recent surge in the number of credit events on Chinese loans, which have not appeared in the reports of international credit rating agencies. 2023 Gatestone Institute. If Chinas role in international finance continues in the shadows, global risk assessments and country surveillance work will remain dangerously incomplete. Let the Chinese have Africa. "I think our conclusion is that they were being muscular and sophisticated in these contracts. But officials in Beijing have in fact long been concerned that their nations porous borders with Myanmar are facilitating drug production and trafficking in all manner of contraband, as well as providing an outlet for illicit capital flows. China has a depreciating GDP, a high level of unemployment, rising resentment towards the current government, and deteriorating relations with the US. Most African nations do not act like western nations when it comes to repaying external debt. Both claim that it falls within their exclusive economic zones. Does Statista also create infographics in a customized design? The initiative, however, comes across as far too little, too late. Heres What They Think About China, In Their Own Words, Americans views of Asia-Pacific nations have not changed since 2018 with the exception of China, In their own words: What Americans think about China, What the data says about Americans views of climate change, Podcasts as a Source of News and Information, AI in Hiring and Evaluating Workers: What Americans Think, Americans confident in Zelenskyy, but have limited familiarity with some other world leaders, How Public Polling Has Changed in the 21st Century. February 26, 2020. AidData tallied underreported debt amounting to $385bn. Other official entities, such as the World Bank, typically lend at concessional, below-market interest rates, and longer maturities. Despite the vying population statistics, China is far more wealthy than India. Is climate change killing Australian wine? On the streets of Beijing, the mood was similar. Longer submissions are unlikely to be published. Trade between China and Africa has grown from $10 billion in 2000 to $190 billion by 2017. Use is, however, only permitted with General Stephen Townsend, Commander of United States Africa Command, Senate Armed Services Committee, March 15, 2022. Why does this matter? Evaluations of Americas global influence vary more widely. Their presence is irritating and appears threatening to Japan, but foreign ships sailing within the contiguous zone is not a violation of international law. In an interview with the BBC, Richard Moore, the head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency MI6, said China uses what he called "debt traps" to gain leverage over other countries. "We hear from public officials in China all the time, saying 'Look, you're in the only game in town'," explains Brad Parks, executive director of AidData. Since 2013, Argentina, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey all have made use of their RMB swap lines in periods of market distress. It particularly takes issue with the building airstrips and hangars, as well as stationing anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems in the Spratly Islands, Deutsche Welle said. In Germany I met several African immigrants (in the tech business), and all of them repeated a similar theme, that back home things were wonderful before the colonialists appeared. Since taking power in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has helped cement China's position as a global superpower -- and pushed forward an aggressive foreign policy, making bolder moves in . Read the "Chung Kuo: Middle Earth" series by David Wingrove. The hostility, which triggered an angry protest from Manila, was the latest flare-up in the South China Sea, with China claiming virtually the entire waterway and transforming seven disputed shoals into missile-protected island bases. India, its neighbor and fierce rival, will soon overtake China, Beijing residents focus on superpowers as India's population exceeds China's, lifting almost 800 million people out of poverty, fell last year for the first time in six decades. Outside of Singapore and Malaysia, people in every nation surveyed have more confidence in Biden than in Xi and in Poland and Sweden, the difference is greater than 60 percentage points. Few tend to describe Chinas influence as staying the same (median of 20%) or getting weaker (12%). Election Integrity's Biggest Threat: Big Tech, The Biden Administration's Vacuum of Leadership, Thousands of Political Prisoners are Rotting in Turkish Jails. The West is making the same mistake with them as it did with the "Arab Spring". Commenters' email addresses will not be displayed publicly. About 40 out of Africa's 54 countries participate in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the global infrastructure and economic development project that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched in 2013. To address this lack of knowledge, we embarked on a multi-year data-gathering effort. News of the population ranking made headlines around the world. Reports show that a substantial number of African countries have taken Chinese loans since 2000, totaling a whopping $124 billion by 2016 . Laos. "[Those new initiatives] will not have enough real money to address the scale of infrastructure needs in the developing world. Gatestone Institute is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, Federal Tax ID #454724565. Following an unsuccessful uprising in 1959, Tibets spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to India, where he set up a government in exile. Fears that China could launch an invasion of Taiwan have dominated headlines for months, fuelled by a series of incendiary interventions by senior officials in Beijing. In many countries, younger people tend to feel more positively about China than older people. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The small Islamic nation has long been described as the silent claimant to areas in the South China Sea owing to it keeping a low profile in major disputes. We also show that China tends to lend at market terms, meaning at interest rates that are close to those in private capital markets. As we mentioned in our previous post, the US has offered a latest estimate of Russian troops killed in Ukraine. China lent nearly . Every major world power has strategic interests in Africa but no western power has been able to have its way for long on this continent, that is why all the colonial powers abandoned it. Xi must have, and took them very seriously. Read about our approach to external linking. Bhutan has not responded to reports of the Chinese settlements along its border. The pattern differs in Poland, also last surveyed in 2019, where the U.S. is now seen more favorably than three years ago (+12 points) while China is seen less favorably (-19 points). internet, telecommunications and consumer electronics Their disagreements centre on 205 islands on the YaluRiver, which runs on the border between the two nations. What matters to China is consumer and investor confidence, "so it is not hard to see why Chinese officials are pushing back on the argument that a population decline spells economic decline," said Dimitar Gueorguiev, an associate professor who teaches Chinese politics at Syracuse University. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stressed that it was important "to look at not just the size, but also the quality of its population.". In most countries, majorities have a favorable view of the U.S., while fewer than around a third tend to say the same of China. In September, Radio Free Asia reported that residents of Myanmars northern Shan state had destroyed a fence built by Chinese authorities, claiming it encroaches on their countrys territory. This gap in perceptions is largest in Australia, where more than three times as many say Chinas influence is growing than say the same about American influence (73% vs. 19%). The territory of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has frequently been revised since its formation on 1 October 1949. Editorial: editor@gatestoneinstitute.org. 'The Global Gateway': More Empty Promises from the EU? And their analysis found that 50% of Chinas loans to developing countries go unreported, which distorts the views of the official and private sectors in three material ways: 1) Official surveillance work is hampered when parts of a countrys debt are unknown. The country is accused of leveraging massive loans it holds over. But there are no cases, among the hundreds of loan arrangements studied by AidData and some other researchers, of Chinese state-owned lenders actually seizing a major asset in the event of a loan default. Very good article. Since 2013 a Chinese Coast Guard ship has been stationed near Luconia Breakers, an area about 80 nautical miles north of Sarawak. A twisting railway running between China and the neighbouring country of Laos is often touted as a prime example of China's off-the-books lending. Read our research on: Congress | Economy | Trust in Media. Since the 1980s, the two governments have conducted regular talks on border and security issues aimed at reducing tensions. Africans will continue to move westward and northward by the millions. That lending cycle ended badly once commodity prices and economic growth slumped, and dozens of developing countries went into default during the bust that followed. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax And 3) Forecasters of global economic activity are missing an important swing factor influencing aggregate global demand. Well over 100 countries worldwide had instituted either a full or partial lockdown by the end of March 2020 . "Over the last two decades, and especially under General Secretary Xi's leadership since 2012, Beijing has launched new initiatives to transform Africa into a testing ground for the export of its governance system of state-led economic growth under one-party, authoritarian rule. Beijing has increased its control of African commodities through strategic direct investment in oil fields, mines, and production facilities, as well as through resource-backed loans that call for in-kind payments of commodities. Video, 00:02:36, On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry. While views of the U.S. and China have remained mostly stable over the past year, attitudes in some countries have shifted. "Chinese FDI flows to Africa have exceeded those from the U.S. since 2013, as U.S. FDI flows have generally been declining since 2010," according to the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World, Fast facts about views of China ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Large Majorities Say China Does Not Respect the Personal Freedoms of Its People, Most Americans Have Cold Views of China. Finally, in 2017, Sri Lanka agreed to give state-owned China Merchants a controlling 70% stake in the port on a 99-year lease in return for further Chinese investment. They want to eat and they want infrastructure. The Chinese Communist Party's Secret Projects in the US: What Is Going On? India, by contrast, has not achieved the same lightspeed development in manufacturing and infrastructure. The U.S. is generally seen more positively than China. 1615 L St. NW, Suite 800Washington, DC 20036USA It's not the fault of today's corrupt African leaders or the African culture, but of things that happened before any of us were born. Many of Chinese premier Xi Jinpings disputes centre on control of the South China Sea. Most of the line is owned by the Chinese-dominated railway group, but under the murky terms of the deal, the Laotian government is ultimately responsible for the railway's debt. Facing a demographic crisis that could undermine the government's bid to rival the United States, Chinese officials and state media balked at Western coverage of new data projecting India edging ahead of mainland China by the middle of this year, if it hasn't already. Most Chinese loans have helped finance large-scale investments in infrastructure, energy, and mining. Chinas growing role in international finance has remained obscure, mostly due to a lack of data and transparency. Since 2010 well over $20bn of Chinese . current data from the United States and around the Alexander Smith is a senior reporter forNBC News Digital based in London. Laos has a 313-mile border with China that runs from the tripoint with Myanmar in the west to the tripoint with Vietnam in the east. Taken together, young people in a few countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom are both more positive toward China and less positive toward the U.S. than older adults. The Laos railway is far from the only risky project that Chinese state banks have funded - and yet, AidData says China remains the financier of first resort for many low and middle income countries. In contrast to views of Chinas influence, more than half of the public in only one country Poland say U.S. influence is growing. And this is all before the railway has even begun operations. India may have overtaken China in total population, but UN data also shows that its growth rate has slowed. So who is really stuck in a debt trap? China is lending differently: instead of financing projects by granting or loaning money from one state to another, almost all the money it's handing out is in the form of state banking loans. In about a third of the places surveyed, more educated people are also more likely to say that U.S. influence is getting weaker. The authors . In order to keep the BRI on track, researchers say, Beijing will have no choice but to address borrowers' concerns. There are now more than 40 low and middle-income countries, according to AidData, whose debt exposure to Chinese lenders is more than 10% of the size of their annual economic output (GDP) as a result of this "hidden debt". "[That is] income for these very poor countries, dollars and euros, to lock those up in an offshore account that's controlled by a foreign power. Jace Zhang reported from Beijing, and Alex Smith reported from London. If China was to take over Taiwan, . This control threatens the ability of U.S. companies to access key supplies." Central bank swap lines can be understood as standing lines of credit, where central banks agree on exchanging their currencies to facilitate trade settlements and to address liquidity needs. To China, being the most populous nation "doesnt count for anything" in and of itself, he told NBC News in an email. On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry. Western workers should stay out of Africa, its too dangerous. North Korea has 127 and China 78, but due to the division criteria, some islands belong to North Korea even though they are on the Chinese side of the river. The AidData researchers found that the Belt and Road project is facing its own issues. How the West Is Helping Train China's Military. "Beijing uses its influence in Africa to gain preferential access to Africa's natural resources, open up markets for Chinese exports, and enlist African support for Chinese diplomatic priorities on and beyond the continent.". "And much of China's development financing is fundamentally a commercial operation.". China is now Africa's largest trade partner. In most countries, people on the ideological right and left feel similarly about China. When adding portfolio debts (including the $1 trillion of U.S. Treasury debt purchased by Chinas central bank) and trade credits (to buy goods and services), the Chinese governments aggregate claims to the rest of the world exceed $5 trillion in total. Almost all of this lending is official, coming from the government and state-controlled entities. For generations I have heard in America that all of the problems in Africa are because of (white) colonialism. Facebook: quarterly number of MAU (monthly active users) worldwide 2008-2022, Quarterly smartphone market share worldwide by vendor 2009-2022, Number of apps available in leading app stores Q3 2022, Militrische Strke von Taiwan und China im Vergleich 2023, Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP) in China bis 2028, Staatsverschuldung von China in Relation zum Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP) bis 2028, Inflationsrate in China nach Monaten bis Mrz 2023. This pattern can also be seen in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Israel, the Netherlands, Spain, South Korea, Sweden and the UK. The western media are constantly blaming Europe's and the US policies in Africa as "racist" "neocolonialist" "ill-advised" "self-serving" etc with hardly a word on China's actions on that continent. In September 2020, on the brink of bankruptcy, Laos sold a major asset to China, handing over part of its energy grid for $600m in order to seek debt relief from Chinese creditors. proper attribution to Statista. They found thatChina tends to lend at market terms, meaning at interest rates that are close to those in private capital markets, rather than the concessional rates offered by other official entities, such as the World Bank or IMF. People on the right of the ideological spectrum are more likely than those on the left to view the U.S. favorably, but there are no strong ideological patterns in views of China. BRI aims to build an economic and infrastructure network connecting China with Europe, Africa and beyond, and has already strengthened China's global influence from East Asia to Europe by making countries worldwide increasingly dependent on China. Why Don't Americans Trust the Biden Administration on Iran? However, critics fear that the high-interest loans funding many Chinese projects are saddling unsuspecting populations in sky-high debt. The state broadcaster CCTV said China, which the World Bank credits with lifting almost 800 million people out of poverty in the past 40 years, was being slandered despite creating a miracle of sustainable and stable economic development with a huge population.. China and Japan have repeatedly clashed over a group of uninhabited islands called the Senkaku Islands in Tokyo, the Diaoyu Islands in Beijing and theTiaoyutai Islands in Taiwan. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. Hopefully, China will continue to spend $ billions more in these regimes governments for investments that they will never be able to collect on. Maybe more importantly, our analysis reveals that 50% of Chinas loans to developing countries go unreported, meaning that these debt stocks do not appear in the gold standard data sources provided by the World Bank, the IMF, or credit-rating agencies. In June 2021, in an extremely belated attempt to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative, the Biden administration together with the G7 launched a new global infrastructure initiative, the Build Back Better World. On the borrower side, debt is accumulating fast: For the 50 main developing country recipients, we estimate that the average stock of debt owed to China has increased from less than 1% of debtor country GDP in 2005 to more than 15% in 2017. China continues to deepen its engagement in Africa on all levels. And by comparison, the US is spending about $37bn in any given year to support global development activities," says Brad Parks. Here are the questions used in this report, along with their responses, as well as its methodology. It's not sci-fi any more! Port projects, economic endeavors, infrastructure and their agreements and contracts will lead to greater access in the future. Beijing alleges that it owns large parts of Laos on historical precedent dating back to the Yuan Dynasty, said The Print. When it comes to views of the U.S., the pattern is more varied. For instance, in Greece, 60% of those on the right have a favorable view of the U.S., compared with only 22% of those on the left. At the same time, however, there are no countries where more than half say U.S. influence is weakening, either. China's economic and diplomatic engagements allow it to buttress autocracies and change international norms in a patient effort to claim their second continent.".
