Why are nations across the global south turning to China as...¶

Why are nations across the global south turning to China as a source of loans? The answer is simple. Poorer nations need capital to build infrastructure that will help them be less poor, and they have limited options to get it: selling off resources, IMF loans, or China. Granting companies from wealthy nations contracts to freely extract resources is what a lot of these nations have done in the past. It's why a lot of governments have come into power in the first place: the US has used its military might to put them there to ensure "free trade." However, these trade deals only provide these nations with pennies on the dollar for the value of these resources. They don't uplift the citizens, who are either cut out of the process entirely or paid little to nothing for their labor. And graft is child's play in these cases. Additionally, after a century and a half of brutal colonization and military intervention that continues to this day, existing governments are acutely aware that failing to provide these sweetheart deals to the west may lead to coups to replace them with more amenable puppets. IMF loans, ostensibly designed to uplift poor countries and help them get on the track to self-sufficiency, actually do the opposite. These loans come with conditions that require governments to institute "fiscally responsible" policies that line up with IMF's economic orthodoxy. Specifically, they enforce austerity, cutting social programs. They insist on privatization so the government "saves money," even though that means citizens cannot access services that now cost money. They push for deregulation, allowing companies to externalize their costs. So you can see why loans from China have appeal. They don't come with the implicit threat of military reprisal, and they don't come with conditions about how to spend the money. More importantly, they aren't sourced by the same western powers that oppressed them for so long. Obviously China isn't just doing this out of a sense of moral duty. These loans have interest payments attached, like all loans do, including IMF loans. The difference is that China recognizes that it is in its own best interest for these nations to be able to repay those loans. China isn't interested in sucking these nations dry for short-term gains. They want to build up a global network of nations more economically tied to China than to the west. And that necessarily means helping those nations succeed and grow. Rather than extractive trade deals designed to give western companies huge profit margins or IMF loans designed to bring them in line with libertarian economic doctrine, these nations increasingly prefer to deal with a partner that wants them to succeed. You can call it conniving all you want, but the end result is that people are being lifted out of poverty, which they weren't under the western model of intervention, extraction, and austerity.