As far as I'm aware, China has been giving loans to various countries in Africa and building infrastructure in exchange for money and maybe some stuff like recognizing Taiwan as part of China. But why do people say China is imperialist for doing this? Is there truth to it or is it another strain of radlibs eating state department propaganda?

  • toledosequel [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Most of those takes rely on the claim that China is putting Countries in "Debt Traps", aka giving them loans so large they will never be able to pay them off and then leveraging that debt to secure unfair contracts or transfer state property over to the Chinese government/company. If that were true, it would be a form of Imperialism. Most people never double check this so it's their go to argument, but its been debunked numerous times. Here are some examples from Lib outlets if you're trying to convince a lib

    SCMP

    Atlantic

    Washington Post

    • krammaskin [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      It's not true as you noted. I watched a Yale lecture on the subject for the more academically inclined.

      Edit: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wMCF2eu1D0E