China says no developing country will fall into ‘debt trap’ by cooperating with Beijing

BEIJING: China’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that no developing country would fall into a debt trap simply because of its cooperation with Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the comment in an online statement responding to remarks made by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

“No developing country will fall into debt difficulties because of cooperation with China,” Hua said.

“On the contrary, cooperating with China helps these countries raise independent development capabilities and levels, and improves the lives of the local people.”

Speaking at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit on Saturday, Pence took aim at China’s Belt and Road initiative, saying countries should not accept debt that compromised their sovereignty.

In a similar statement in October, the Chinese foreign ministry had rejected the claim that China was using “debt diplomacy” to expand its global influence and said the cooperation with the developing countries had effectively promoted their economic and social development and improvement of people’s livelihood.

“For example, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) contributed 2.5 percentage points to Pakistan’s GDP growth in 2016,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, which is financed and built by China, has created nearly 50,000 jobs for Kenya.

“The cooperation is of course well received by the developing countries,” senior Chinese foreign ministry official, Lu Kang, said during his regular briefing .

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