Kathmandu, Nepal, (Daily The Rising Nepal)

Brautigam of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and Meg Rithmire of the Harvard Business School, jointly published an article in The Atlantic magazine and concluded that the debt-trap narrative was “a lie, and a powerful one.” “Our research shows that Chinese banks are willing to restructure the terms of existing loans and have never actually seized an asset from any country, much less the port of Hambantota.” Brautigam published her findings in a 2020 article for Johns Hopkins’ China Africa Research Initiative ‘Debt Relief with Chinese Characteristics’.

It investigated Chinese loans in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Ethiopia, Angola, and the Republic of Congo, and “found no ‘asset seizures’. The research discovered that China cancelled more than $3.4 billion and restructured or refinanced roughly $15 billion of debt in Africa between 2000 and 2019. “Moreover, despite critics’ worries that China could seize its borrower’s assets, we do not see it attempting to take advantage of countries in debt distress,” it stated.

Our political, bureaucratic and intellectual circles should take their cues from the findings of the US mainstream academics and must not be misled by fabricated information about the BRI.

It is wise to learn from its decade-long history – its shortcomings seen in the process of implementation and positive impacts on the receiving countries – so as to better negotiate with the BRI lending agencies.

It has become imperative to form common position on the BRI and efforts should be made to secure soft or concessional loans to build mega infrastructures. It is not only loans but also the aid or grants that form the components of BRI. In order to win the confidence of Nepalis, the Chinese side could also build a signature project under its grants in the first stage of implementation. But politicisation or demonisation of BRI can only deprive Nepal of huge economic opportunity available at its doorstep.

(The author is Deputy Executive Editor of Daily The Rising Nepal).