China’s lending since the turn of the century has been “vastly” larger than previously understood, with loans and grants increasingly going to developed countries including the United States—the largest recipient—according to a new report by an American university research team, reports the South China Morning Post. Of the $2.2 trillion disbursed by China’s “official sector” between 2000 and 2023, nearly $202 billion went to projects in the US, the AidData research lab at Virginia-based university William & Mary found.
“Our data demonstrate that the US—a high-income country—is the single largest recipient of official sector credit from China. This finding is both unexpected and counterintuitive,” wrote researchers of the study released on Tuesday.
“This is an extraordinary discovery, given that the US has spent the better part of the last decade warning other countries of the dangers of accumulating significant debt exposure to China, and accusing China of practising ‘debt trap diplomacy’,” said Brad Parks, AidData’s executive director.