Beijing is emerging as a new heavyweight in providing emergency funds to debt-ridden countries, catching up to the I.M.F. as a lender of last resort
New York Times, March 27. Business Section
Note about this link/post:
On March 26 2023, I shared a short New York Times article to my Facebook page about how Honduras had honored China's request to publicly announce a “one China” policy. What that really means, of course, is that Honduras will deny Taiwan's sovereignty. It didn't take even the very modest level of knowledge I maintain about Honduras, or any great understanding of foreign policy, to understand that the China-Honduras agreement was a quid pro quo agreement whereby Honduras pays homage to Chinese Nationalism in exchange for Chinese loans.
THEN, the next day, March 27, I gifted THIS ARTICLE in the NYT, which pretty thoroughly explains that China is aggressively investing in loans to developing nations. This is strikingly like the kinds of loans that the U.S.S.R. made to poor countries back during the first Cold War, and is clearly another aspect of jockeying for international power.
I actually worried about this when I first read it. And, it wouldn't be wrong that I still worry about it a little. But I've read other reports since that make clear that most other Latin American countries are not only rejecting China's offers of bailouts and investments, but are actually scaling back on trade agreements with China. Who knows what's behind all this, or how permanent any of it will be. But I still think that this article is very much worth the time it takes to read it … assuming that the “gift” of this NYT link actually works for people who click on the link here.