1-minute News | Kishore Mahbubani: BRI is anything but debt trap

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has brought benefits to humanity and has been well-received by many developing countries. However, in recent years, several Western media outlets have propagated the contentious notion of “Debt-Trap Diplomacy“, criticizing China for providing substantial loans to developing countries. In response, Kishore Mahbubani, the former President of the UN Security Council, strongly refutes these claims, considering them an insult to the intelligence of developing countries. As of June this year, China has signed over 200 cooperation agreements for jointly building the “Belt and Road“ with about 150 countries and 32 international organizations. Mahbubani stated that this shows the trust and support for the BRI. Despite Western media’s portrayal of some countries involved as “victim countries“ trapped in external debt, it is essential to recognize that the proportion of loans from China is not significantly high. The key factors lie in the irresponsible monetary policies pursued by the United States and the burden of high-interest loans imposed by Western financial institutions. The United States initially implemented an excessively loose monetary policy, causing a large influx of low-interest US dollars into Africa and emerging market countries. Subsequently, they aggressively raised interest rates, attracting the flow of US dollars back. As a result, there is a severe shortage of liquidity, funding disruptions, and currency devaluation issues in developing countries, which have been worsening. Adding to the misery, the debt repayment pressure denominated in US dollars has skyrocketed. Mackay Shuo emphasized that the United States seeks to contain China’s development but is destined to fail. He said, “I can confidently predict that the US containment policy against China will fail because China is more integrated with the world than the United States.“