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I'm unclear on why China would want to crush Africa into social catastrophe. Why do you think they would?

• adventured 8y ago
  I don't think they do. I think they're looking to make deals with nations that have resources they want, nothing more or less. I attribute zero ill spirit to that equation. Banks typically don't want to see you go out of business when you borrow their money, such that they have to take your collateralized assets or similar. They'd prefer you fulfill the terms of the original loan. Regardless, it still happens routinely that debtors default; sometimes the creditor also lends more good money after bad, hoping the situation turns around. Ethiopia would be considered a risky or subprime debtor, as are most of the very newly developing countries like that which China is lending large sums to. They're not lending money to borrowers like Germany or Canada, with many decades of consistently sound economic operation and stability. Those types of economies don't much need China's capital. The nations that have weak access to global capital markets, or generally weak foreign investment, are drawn to China's money for obvious reasons. China is frequently a lender of only resort (particularly at the scale they're willing to deal).