Why China has to change its international lending strategy – Harry Broadman

 

Harry Broadman

China got itself into trouble a few times when lenders who got into problems paying back debts. When China offers the same loans commercial banks can offer but without political ties, China has not so much extra to give, says strategic analyst Harry Broadman about the country’s’ international debt policies in the Africa Report, taking Zambia as an example.

The Africa Report:

The Zambian experience shows that China’s lending strategy needs to change, says Harry Broadman, chair of the emerging markets practice at Berkeley Research Group LLC in Washington. He questions why a borrower such as Zambia would not go to a commercial bank – which would have no ulterior political motives – if the loans are made at commercial rates.

“If China wants to remain in the international creditor game—where by dint of its political structure it is not a commercial-based economy and its motives as a lender are far more than only commercial—it needs to make itself attractive in other ways to debtors if it wants to charge commercial rates,” Broadman says.

More in the Africa Report.

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Africa, the new target for affluent Chinese - Wei Gu

Wei Gu

Bored with Hong Kong, Milan and Paris, China's rich are turning to new places, notably in Africa, writes Wei Gu, luxury editor of the Wall Street Journal in Scene Asia. Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia are on the agenda. 60,000 visited Africa in the first half of 2012, a jump of 68%.

Wei Gu:

Many of them first discover Africa during business trips. China’s direct investments in Africa jumped to $15 billion in 2011 from less than $100 million in 2003, and by 2009, China had replaced the U.S. as Africa’s largest trade and investment partner, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce. Compared with Latin America, Africa is closer to home, about 12 hours by plane from Beijing or Shanghai. 

Once there, Ms. Shi says, Africa’s upscale safari camps and private jets play to Chinese tastes for luxury tourism, as does its focus on nature and scenery over historic attractions. 

“We go out during sunrise and sunset to watch animals. After a few days your eyes get trained and it becomes easy to spot them,” she says. Once, she made a few seconds of eye contact with a lion as her jeep passed by — “but I wasn’t afraid at all,” she says. “It is their world. We’re just observers.” 

On their first trip, Ms. Shi and her family were a rare enough sight in Africa that hoteliers told them about previous Chinese visitors. While in Namibia last year, however, she discovered that a friend was nearby — via Weixin, a Chinese social-networking app.

More in WSJ Scene Asia.
Wei Gu is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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