The coast of La Digue, one of Seychelles’ largest islands. Seychelles greatly expanded its marine protected areas in exchange for millions in debt relief. Credit: Jean-Marie Hullot, Creative Commons
After rising to become the world’s top bilateral creditor, China is facing a new challenge: a looming global debt crisis. Many of China’s most frequent borrowers now find themselves unable to repay their debts.
China has already shown itself as a willing partner in debt renegotiations. It has joined the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) to ease this burden among 73 lower-income borrowers by allowing them to temporarily suspend their debt payments to participating bilateral lenders. The initiative is currently set to expire in June.
In fact, the DSSI-eligible countries facing the heaviest debt service are all repeat customers of China’s lending. Pakistan — the DSSI-eligible country with the greatest debt service burden — owes China $2.9 billion in debt service in 2021. Kenya and Angola — in second and third place — owe China $2.3 billion and $849 million in 2021, respectively. Laos owes China $442 million in 2021, a whopping 2 percent of its GDP.&n
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
Increasingly, Democrats and Republicans believe that climate change and China pose a single interconnected challenge. As a result — and for the first time ever — a window is opening for bipartisan cooperation on climate policy. Historically progressive ideas like a 'carbon border adjustment mechanism' now have conservative champions, for instance. But with Washington's main focus on the Warming War with China, can it still save the planet?
A look at China’s electricity grid: how it works, who foots the bill, and how its structure leads to power crunches and expensive prices despite the relative abundance of energy in China.
The academic talks about the changing understanding of Leninist regimes; common misperceptions of the post-Mao era; and what the collapse of the Soviet Union means for China today.
