Nah. These countries are acquiring debt from China because many of these undertakings would not be underwritten by other entities. It’s not because these other entities hate having countries in their debt - it’s because of various factors that make recovery of that debt less likely. Corruption, local instability, rapidly changing governments, low ROI, etc etc etc. Or, to put it in terms of scale, “When you owe the bank a million dollars, you have a problem. When you owe the bank a billion dollars, the bank has a problem.”
Chad has some decent gold fields. They aren’t the biggest the world, but they are substantial enough to draw attention. The cheap labor and zero environmental regulation is a value multiplyer as well.
When you add a little flavor the to pot by destabilizing the country and giving the west a bit of a headache, it’s now even more attractive.
When you add a little flavor the to pot by destabilizing the country
Ha. Well, that’s exactly the problem, though, isn’t it? Many countries in Africa are resource-rich, but instability makes them less appealing for investment. There’s a reason that Botswana, for example, which is stable and resource-rich, hasn’t taken major Chinese loans - it hasn’t needed an alternate source, because it can prove a certain degree of stability.
Oh. When I said “the west” I was squarely pointing the finger at France. China is playing the longer game there because Russia has stationed Wagner down there already. It benefits both Russia and China if the population is focused on removing French influence. China gets a long term investment hedge against France and Russia gets more cheap mercs for Ukraine.
Now, I don’t really want to spend much time doing a full research project on what is basically a game of thrones’ish style side bet. It’s insanely complicated, I would imagine. After a few African countries went full-on coup d’état a few months ago, I realized there was much more going on.
Edit: I wasn’t downvoting you. I suspect that some people might be trying to launch some instability of their own. Lulz.
Nah. These countries are acquiring debt from China because many of these undertakings would not be underwritten by other entities. It’s not because these other entities hate having countries in their debt - it’s because of various factors that make recovery of that debt less likely. Corruption, local instability, rapidly changing governments, low ROI, etc etc etc. Or, to put it in terms of scale, “When you owe the bank a million dollars, you have a problem. When you owe the bank a billion dollars, the bank has a problem.”
Chad has some decent gold fields. They aren’t the biggest the world, but they are substantial enough to draw attention. The cheap labor and zero environmental regulation is a value multiplyer as well.
When you add a little flavor the to pot by destabilizing the country and giving the west a bit of a headache, it’s now even more attractive.
Ha. Well, that’s exactly the problem, though, isn’t it? Many countries in Africa are resource-rich, but instability makes them less appealing for investment. There’s a reason that Botswana, for example, which is stable and resource-rich, hasn’t taken major Chinese loans - it hasn’t needed an alternate source, because it can prove a certain degree of stability.
Oh. When I said “the west” I was squarely pointing the finger at France. China is playing the longer game there because Russia has stationed Wagner down there already. It benefits both Russia and China if the population is focused on removing French influence. China gets a long term investment hedge against France and Russia gets more cheap mercs for Ukraine.
Now, I don’t really want to spend much time doing a full research project on what is basically a game of thrones’ish style side bet. It’s insanely complicated, I would imagine. After a few African countries went full-on coup d’état a few months ago, I realized there was much more going on.
Edit: I wasn’t downvoting you. I suspect that some people might be trying to launch some instability of their own. Lulz.
Oh, I didn’t assume you were. I assumed there are just some wumaos getting upset that China’s boots aren’t being unconditionally licked.