20 Countries Owing China Billions of Dollars
The United States isn’t the only country in debt to other nations. China, known for its significant lending, is awaiting repayments from numerous countries.
That said, China probably doesn’t hold a grudge against the countries that owe it money. In 2013, it launched the Belt and Road Initiative, inspired by the ancient Silk Road of the Han Dynasty 2,000 years ago. Its goal? To connect China with other parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe to increase trade and stimulate economic growth. As a result, many of the projects that countries fund with Chinese debt include the building of ports, roads, airports, and power plants.
Nevertheless, debt is something most countries would rather not have. These 20 countries in particular owe China a large chunk of change.
Drowning in Debt
Spoiler alert: Not a single country on this list at the time the data was published owed China less than $1 billion. Yes, that’s billion.
To determine the countries that have the most debt with China, Yahoo Finance gathered data from the World Bank. Statistics from 2022 were the most recent they analyzed, meaning these debts very well may be lower or even higher than the numbers here. Nevertheless, they paint a clear picture of the countries China has significantly invested its money in.
Helpful or Predatory
It’s not every day a country sets up a program like the Belt and Road Initiative, willingly giving out more than $1 trillion in loans to other nations. It begs the question: How helpful is China trying to be?
AidData looked into just that, concluding that China’s Belt and Road Initiative loans could be having a significantly harmful effect on developing and emerging countries. Approximately 80% of the Belt and Road loans have been given to countries in financial stress. Unsurprisingly, this has led many such countries to struggle with debt distress and defaults.
Although China has granted some bilateral sovereign debt restructurings and rescue loans to countries struggling to repay them, critics worry certain nations may never have the capacity to repay their loans.
Debt-Trap Diplomacy
Some international relations experts believe that China’s Belt and Road Initiative is something called debt-trap diplomacy. In debt-trap diplomacy, one country tries to gain influence over another country by “trapping” them in a system where they’re in a cycle of debt.
Some countries with large debts to China, including Kenya, Zambia, Laos, and Mongolia, have even had to dip into tax revenue that was meant to go towards schools, electricity, food, and fuel for its residents.
To make things worse, big outside lenders have been hesitant to step in to help. The reason? China isn’t very open with the terms around its loans, and in some cases it’s been reluctant to forgive debt.
On American Soil
The United States owes over $7 trillion in foreign debt. However, we owe the majority of that to five countries. Yes, China is among them.
According to USA Facts and as of 2023, the countries the U.S. owes the most money to include:
- Japan ($1.1 trillion)
- China ($859 billion)
- United Kingdom ($668 billion)
- Belgium ($331 billion)
- Luxembourg ($318 billion)
These numbers don’t include domestic debt, of which the U.S. owes approximately 34 trillion.
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