Interview: Western countries, not China, are setting "debt trap" for Africa
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E-mail Xinhua, June 16, 2023
BEIJING, June 16 (Xinhua) -- China's "debt trap" is one of the nonsense fabricated by Western countries, as no African nation is under the burden of Chinese debts, a Zimbabwean party official has said.
"The Western countries are the ones who made Africa every 'debt trap'," Christopher Mutsvangwa, secretary for Information and Publicity for the ruling party Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF), told Xinhua on the sidelines of the Forum on Global Human Rights Governance held in Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday.
Instead of causing any "debt trap," China is offering a helping hand to address Africa's debt issue, said Mutsvangwa, also the African country's former ambassador to China.
"Before China, for Africa, if you want capital, you go to Paris, it's expensive. You try to go to New York, it's even more expensive. You try to go to London, it's through the roof," he said.
The cost of loans from China is low and the capital from China is modernizing Africa, he added.
"We want more capital from China ... Because capital from China is modernizing Africa. It is bringing Africa to the global economic stage which they (Western countries) never did before China," Mutsvangwa said.
According to research by the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University in April, China has contributed 63 percent of the debt service suspensions under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).
The research found that China has been active in communicating with other participating parties, and has performed its duties in effectively implementing the DSSI.
"Those who accused China of 'debt trap' are jealous. They won't succeed. They will not stop the shared development and endeavor between Africa and China."
Speaking highly of the Belt and Road Initiative, Mutsvangwa said it is giving African countries more development opportunities and bringing more African countries to the global stage.
"The country which is showing the way more than any other in the last 40 years is China, and we are very grateful to China for teaching the world that you must respect Africa," he said. Enditem
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