非洲国家望借中国论坛得到更好交易

When African leaders meet next week in Beijing for the 2018 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, they’ll strike million- and billion-dollar deals for infrastructure, business, and development projects.

To date, China has made more than $142 billion in loans to African countries, and this year’s forum will deepen those financial ties.

But U.S. politicians are ringing alarms about over-reliance on Chinese financing, while analysts who study Sino-Africa relations see fresh opportunities for African leaders to negotiate deals that better serve their countries’ interests.

On the whole, China accounts for a small portion of Africa’s overall debt burden, according to research published this month by the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University。

But Chinese loans often come with preferential terms, including zero-interest financing in some cases. And the projects they’re financing serve a purpose.

Analyists also pointed out that the deals are often opaque, and that can feed corruption.