"China Debt Trap" Narrative is Baseless, Pushed by the West, Says European Scholar

By Qingting Zheng, Intern Jianling Xie

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is far more ambitious than the ports, railways and highways that it is often reduced to in Western commentary, said Hussein Askary, a prominent Iraqi-Swedish scholar of international relations and geo-economics. At its core, he argued, lies the concept of “a community with a shared future for mankind” — an idea that encompasses not only economic cooperation but also cultural exchange and mutual learning among civilisations.

“The Belt and Road is not just about infrastructure,” Askary told the 21st Century Business Herald in an interview on the sidelines of a conference in Beijing. “It is about the true essence of the ancient Silk Road: deep exchanges and the transmission of knowledge between different civilisations.”

Askary is co-founder and deputy director of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden (BRIX) and has spent years researching and advocating for the initiative. He is co-author of Extending the New Silk Road to West Asia and Africa, a special research fellow at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, and an economic strategy analyst at the Schiller Institute.

On April 14 he addressed the 21st session of the “U.S. Series” of the Regional and Country Studies Forum, organised by the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. His lecture, titled “‘America First’ Meets ‘China’s Approach’: How China is Deeply Engaging West Asia and Africa”, examined the BRI’s growing influence in those regions.

“Debt Trap” Narrative Is Baseless, Says Askary

In a wide-ranging discussion during a break in the proceedings, Askary forcefully rejected the long-running Western accusation that China is creating a “debt trap” in Africa and other developing regions. He argued that the real source of African debt problems lies not with China, but with Western financial institutions.

“If you look at the debt structure of countries like Zambia, Kenya, or Pakistan, you will see that China’s share is very small compared to Western private lenders such as BlackRock, Ashmore, or even multilateral institutions like the IMF and the World Bank,” Askary explained. “The so-called ‘debt trap’ narrative is not based on facts — it is a geopolitical story pushed by the U.S. State Department and some Harvard academics.”

He added that Chinese loans are typically long-term (20–25 years), carry low interest rates of around 2–3%, and are invested in productive infrastructure that helps countries generate future income. In contrast, Western loans are often short-term, with interest rates of 6–10%, and are frequently used to cover budget deficits or roll over existing debt — creating a genuine “snowball effect.” “The real debt trap,” Askary concluded, “comes from the Western financial system, not from China.”