Report: China’s Belt and Road loans are putting borrowers and Chinese banks in danger

For a decade, China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative has been a prominent lever of its trade and foreign policies: By funding major infrastructure projects around the world, Beijing can help its own companies and improve relations with countries far and wide. A new study reveals that China has been spending hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out the countries involved in the Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. The study shows China’s loans are issued to save its own banks. China is tightening its financial grip on developing countries through its Belt and Road Initiative. Beijing has issued hundreds of billion dollars worth of rescue loans to bailout countries that have struggled to repay loans spent building “Belt and Road” infrastructure, according to a new study by the World Bank, Harvard Kennedy School, AidData and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.