The alleged use of loans by China to countries in order to gain geo-political influence.
Deborah Bräutigam (see Profile), a professor at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, described the debt-trap diplomacy theory as a "meme" that became popular due to "human negativity bias" based on anxiety about the rise of China. A 2019 research paper by Bräutigam found that most of the debtor countries voluntarily signed on to the loans and had positive experiences working with China, and "the evidence so far, including the Sri Lankan case, shows that the drumbeat of alarm about Chinese banks` funding of infrastructure across the BRI and beyond is overblown" and "a large number of people have favourable opinions of China as an economic model and consider China an attractive partner for their development." She said that the theory lacked evidence and criticized the media for promoting a narrative that "wrongfully misrepresents the relationship between China and the developing countries that it deals with". (Brautigam, Deborah, 2 January 2020). "A critical look at Chinese `debt-trap diplomacy`: the rise of a meme". Area Development and Policy. An August 2018 China Africa Research Initiative report, co-authored by Brautigam, remarked that "Chinese loans are not currently a major contributor to debt distress in Africa."
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