All indications show that China is waxing strong in Africa. And Beijing does not believe it owes any Western nation, super power or not, any explanations. That is why it has flatly rejected the US claim that its policies are pushing African countries to get into bad debts by giving them too many low-interest loans.
A spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who marshaled these points, was apparently reacting to remarks by the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Donald Yamamoto. During a briefing on the current visit by the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, to Africa, Yamamoto said the US would soon invite China to a meeting in Washington to discuss China’s role in Africa.
Yamamoto expressed concern that African countries were getting themselves into irredeemable debt through low-interest or concessionary loans. He said 50% of these came from China. Yamamoto raised the specter of the debt traps which many African countries fell into about 12 years ago, when the international community had to forgive billions of dollars of debt owed by African states.
The Beijing official reacted by saying, “This statement is completely inconsistent with the fact. The debt presently owed by some African countries was accumulated over a long period. It is unfair to attribute the debts to China”.
Some economic analysts in Africa wonder why China and the US should be quarreling over investment and development decisions being made by African governments. They say it is like two elephants fighting so that they will make the ground to suffer.
