Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/pakistan-and-sri-lanka-face-political-turmoil-fueled-by-chinese-debt-shishir-gupta.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Pakistan and Sri Lanka face political turmoil fueled by Chinese debt -Shishir Gupta | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Pakistan and Sri Lanka face political turmoil fueled by Chinese debt -Shishir Gupta

-Hindustan Times

It is the unfolding crisis in Pakistan and Sri Lanka which is forcing countries like Maldives, Nepal and Bangladesh to think again on Chinese infrastructure loans and being part of the BRI initiative.

During his trip to India last week, Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba informally shared a conversation about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to Kathmandu in late March. The Nepalese PM, who has an equally political and erudite wife Arzu, told the visiting Wang that his country can only accept grants from Beijing and not loans for infrastructure projects. Fact is, not a single agreement on the much-touted Belt Road Initiative (BRI) was signed during Wang’s visit to Kathmandu.

With the Chinese debt in South Asia rising from USD 4.7 billion to upwards of USD 40 billion, Nepal under Deuba chose to walk out of the debt trap of the Middle Kingdom after seeing the mounting political crisis in Beijing’s tributary state of Pakistan and Sri Lanka. With more than 10 per cent of Pakistan's external debt owed to China, the milk and honey relationship no longer tastes sweet with the Islamic Republic descending into political chaos with all democratic institutions made vulnerable by a self-serving Prime Minister in Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi and his cronies.

The situation in Sri Lanka is no different and this time they don’t have India to blame for the country staring into an economic and political abyss with hardly any foreign reserves to buy fuel and oil. The blame squarely lies on the door of the Rajapaksa Incorporated, which brought the country under severe economic stress by taking high-interest loans from China in the name of infrastructure development. Today, the island nation is under lockdown with the public having no options but to protest the state of governance of the Rajapaksa family.

Please click here to read more.