China has been the United States biggest economic contender and this became evident with the Donald Trump tenure in office. Before Trump, it was Obama and North Korea not in good terms but it looked like Trump didn't have much problem with North Korea but rather, with the country that wanted to become the next world power through its communist economic internal power. With China's cheap labor and opportunity to learn engineering, tech and programming, the country is one of the biggest exporters in the world as so many companies assemble or produce in China as a result of the cheap labor. The ability to produce and start exporting made its commerce grow beyond normal bounds making it to become a threat to other countries especially the United States.
Just has the power tussle continues, China has been engaging in what I will call the lending spree in Africa. Most of these lending is not a proof that China is magnanimous, but rather, it looks like China has other motives like the China Silk road, loyalty by a large number of countries which they can only get from underdeveloped countries with so much needs but little or no money and trust, Africa meets this criteria.
China is gradually giving large loans beyond what the country can pay in a matter of 50 years and interestingly, the loans are usually used for purposes which will favor China at a long run if the country can't harness its use, thereby getting them tied to the yoke of debt.
D.R Congo
The Democratic republic of Congo is indebted to China, do not forget DR Congo has been having internal conflict which has crippled the economy of the country but the country has natural resources including gold and the only way for this country to stand back to its feet is to get loans from china and pay the loans with what it has (mineral resources).
Ghana
$3.5B, You will not expect to see Ghana on this list following that the economy of the country looks really stable and the countries currency has been doing fine compared to other African currencies, but why will Ghana go far to get a loan from China? The money was used to extract and start working on Ghana's new offshore oil that was discovered in Owusu-Ankomah’s Western
Region of Ghana source
Nigeria
$3.121B, The self acclaimed giant of Africa is one of the countries that is indebted to China. The loan is said to be paid with 20 years and a 7 year moratorium period with an interest of 2.50% p.a. The Loan is meant to build infrastructures such as roads, rails, and airport terminals.
Cameroon and Zambia
Most African countries are not developed and so many of them are in large debts and countries like Cameroon are in debt of over $5B while Zambia is indebted to china to a sum of $6.5 Billion. Zambian government firms are taken over by the government as a means of compensation or payment back for the loans and project done in the country.
Countries that are majorly in debt to China are Ethiopia, Kenya, North Sudan, Congo-Brazzaville and Angola. This countries are funding several projects in the country on debt from China. Personally, I believe that China is looking for ways to become economic power and to do this, giving out loans that might not be paid easily by its debtors is one way to get them to submit while another thought is that China needs allies and Africa is a good start to look for allies since you are offering what they want.
Reference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt-trap_diplomacy#:~:text=As%20of%202020%2C%20the%20countries,and%20Sudan%20(%246.4%20billion).
Africa has good resources and it is just needed to be exploited
Exploited by the right leaders I hope
The Chinese are taking over so many things. With their supposed help and support they end up taking over the resources of many countries.
Surely they will be able to finish their "silk road" and they will have more and more power.Hi @ajewa
They are getting more powerful by the day.