BRI debt trap is a false narrative

I REFER to the article by Elisa Valenta, “Amid concerns of a Chinese debt trap, Indonesia’s first high-speed railway to finally open” (BT, Sep 25).

It seems that news reports on infrastructure projects under China’s Belt and Road Initiative are invariably linked to the so-called “debt trap”.

The myth of Chinese debt trap has long been debunked, often by organisations that one would not ordinarily consider to be friends of China and which would have wanted the accusations of Chinese debt trap to be true and confirmed. Some examples :

The Council of Foreign Relations (US) published an April 6, 2023 blog post titled “The Rise and Fall of the BRI” by Nadia Clark, which stated : “The real reason why the BRI has struggled to sustain itself is not due to debt traps or predatory lending, but something far more mundane: poor risk management and a lack of attention to detail and cohesion from the Chinese state-owned enterprises and banks, private companies, and local governments involved.”

Chatham House (UK) – In a research paper published on August 19, 2020 titled “Debunking the Myth of ‘Debt-trap Diplomacy’ ”, the introduction said : “Critics of the BRI accuse China of pursuing a policy of ‘debt-trap diplomacy’: luring poor, developing countries into agreeing unsustainable loans to pursue infrastructure projects so that, when they experience financial difficulty, Beijing can seize the asset, thereby extending its strategic or military reach. This paper demonstrates that the evidence for such views is limited.”

The Lowy Institute, a think tank in Australia, also stated in a Sep 9, 2020 article, “China’s ‘debt-trap’ diplomacy is a myth”.

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Closer to home, the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, in a Sep 8, 2022 Perspective paper, concluded : “.. the evidence, on balance, does not lend credence to a purposive Chinese ‘debt trap’ where China sacrifices its genuine commercial interests in the hope of securing assets of strategic importance, and purposefully saddles the host countries with unsustainable debts”.

The BRI debt trap is a false narrative.In the context of your article, it is offensive to both China and Indonesia.

Ho Swee Huat

Editor’s reply: We thank Mr Ho for writing in. Our report reflects the local concerns and views on the ground.