US: Chinese loans disbursed to India’s neighbours being used as ‘coercive leverage’
Chinese loan
The United States has expressed “deep concern” over Chinese loans being disbursed to India’s “immediate neighbourhood”, saying that money is being used as a “coercive leverage”.
Without naming Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, told reporters that the Biden administration is in talks with India on how to help such countries make their decisions without getting influenced by China or any other country.
“Concerning Chinese loans to countries in India’s immediate neighbourhood, we are deeply concerned that loans may be used for coercive leverage,” Lu said ahead of the India trip of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, reports PTI news agency.
The US official informed that the US is talking to countries in the region comprising India to take their own decisions and not feel compelled by any outside partner.
“We are talking to India, talking to countries of the region about how we help countries to make their own decisions and not decisions that might be compelled by any outside partner, including China,” Lu said.
“We have had serious conversations about China, both before the latestscandal over this surveillance balloon and in the aftermath. So, I fully expect those conversations will continue,” he added.
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The remarks come ahead of Blinken’s visit to New Delhi on a three-day official visit from March 1 to 3.
Blinken;s comments come days after China agreed to provide $700m loan to embattled Pakistan, which is facing one of its worst economic crisis in a generation.
The loan comes on top of $30 billion that Pakistan already owes Chinaand Chinese commercial banks.Securing the financing will help to unlock bailout cash from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Whereas, Sri Lanka owed China’s Exim Bank $2.83 billion or 3.5 per cent of the island’s external debt by 2020, according to IMF data.
In total, Sri Lanka owed Chinese lenders $7.4 billion, or nearly a fifth of public external debt, by 2022-end, calculations by the China Africa Research Initiative showed, reports Guardian.
(With inputs from agencies)
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