A train arrives at a station on the Chinese-built Ethiopia-Djibouti railway, on September 22, 2022. Photo: Xinhua

The US' use of the alleged African debt trap claim as an excuse against China in an attempt to hamper the healthy and sustainable development of the regional countries under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have been intensified, highlighted by the recent visits of US Vice President Kamala Harris to Africa, who pointed finger to African debt issue and China's alleged role in it, an allegation that has been refuted by many experts from both sides.

Harris' visits to Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia in April marked the fifth time a senior US government official has visited Africa this year, highlighting the US' blatant intention to exert its global influence and hegemony in the continent, and more importantly to counter China's BRI projects, experts said.

While addressing Africa's alleged debt issue, Harris reiterated US concerns about the so-called China's debt trap and expressed "support" for debt reduction efforts in Ghana and Zambia. 

However, far from the US claims and its conditional lending policies to Africa, China's positive contributions with no political or economic preconditions have helped to promote Africa's sustainable development and alleviated the region's debt burden under the BRI, an increasingly important and much-needed momentum for the sustainable social and economic growth of African countries, a fact that is self-evident and irrefutable, experts highlighted.

Self-evident contribution

African nations have viewed the BRI, since its inception in 2013, as a positive instrument serving Africa's investment needs in infrastructure and trade, Toumert AI, the honorific secretary-general of China Morocco Friendship Association, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.

"We have to understand that the African continent's needs in investment exceed the $100 billion a year," AI said.

In responding to the needs of African economic development, Chinese investments in Africa under the BRI have been substantial and beneficial to the sustainable development of the region. As of the end of 2020, China's stock of direct investment in Africa had exceeded $56 billion, most of which was in industrial parks and factories, helping relevant African countries to form industrial prototypes in the fields of building materials, the light industry, and home appliances, and even achieve export earnings.

Over the last decades, China has helped African countries build over 6,000 kilometers of railway, 6,000 kilometers of road, around 20 ports, over 80 large power facilities, and more than 130 hospitals and 170 schools.

Meanwhile, China-Africa trade has stayed vigorous, with China remaining the number one trading partner of Africa for 13 consecutive years.

The secretary-general said that "the BRI was and is a major driver in supporting Africa's development and integration to world economies and also it does support regional integration between heavy weight economies on the continent."

The initiative is an opportunity to link major economic hubs with trading routes between South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria, and provide investment in textile and mineral industries, and built rail transit hubs across these nations and the world, the expert said.

BRI investment does not only have eyes on the present, but also the future by fostering sustainable business development, environment, and the digitalization of Africa.

No strings attached

Despite China's contribution to regional development, it has drawn increasing attacks from the US-led West, with some politicians and media sources hyping up the BRI's alleged role in creating a "debt crisis" in Africa.

Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times that the US was the one to be blamed for the debt crisis since the country prematurely pushed some African countries into the international financing market.

As early as in the 1990s, the US aggressively promoted privatization in Africa. When Africa was not ready, it pushed the continent into the international capital market, Song said, indicating one of the early reasons for the accumulated debt crisis.

According to World Bank data, within the current overall external debt in sub-Saharan Africa, the debt held by multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors account for 28.8 percent and 41.8 percent respectively, and the debt held by the two accounted for nearly three-fourths.

Moreover, commercial creditors, mainly Western capital, provide loans with floating interest rates far exceeding preferential loan interest rates, suggesting the Western capital is Africa's largest creditor, while China only accounts for 17 percent of Africa's external debt, far lower than that of the West.

Unlike the US and some other Western countries, China has provided underdeveloped countries in the continent with development-oriented preferential loans to support their large-scale infrastructure construction, as well as debt reduction, cancelation or exemption, Song said.

For example, in 2021, China announced to waive the intergovernmental interest-free loan debts due by the end of the year for some of Africa's least-developed countries and to redirect $10 billion of its International Monetary Fund special drawing rights to African countries.

China has also actively participated in the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) of the G20 and signed debt suspension agreements or reached consensuses on debt suspension with 19 African countries.

China never coerced nations to take on BRI projects or the financial loans to deliver better quality infrastructure in Africa, neither did it use debt to leverage its geopolitical objectives, AI said.

"We have to understand that from a geopolitical perspective, the BRI is seen as a threat to US and European clout in global affairs - they unfortunately see the project as a competition rather than an alternative in global governance and resource distribution," AI further noted.

Speaking on the occasion of the celebration of the 60th Africa Day in Beijing on May 26, the Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said that to maintain their hegemony, certain countries are not hesitated to provoke division and confrontation, and have fabricated lies and false narratives such as the so-called "debt trap," "neo-colonialism" to maliciously slander and obstruct China-Africa cooperation.

As the world's largest developing country and the continent with the most developing countries, China and Africa need to strengthen solidarity and cooperation more than ever, he noted.