China pledges ‘no strings attached’ aid and loans to African nations

BEIJING — Chinese president Xi Jinping announced $60 billion in aid and loans for Africa on Monday while hosting more than 40 of the continent’s leaders in Beijing, saying that the money came with no expectation of anything in return.

Beijing pushed back on criticism that it was shackling poorer countries with heavy debt burdens they will struggle to pay back, portraying the Chinese government as a magnanimous one motivated only to share its experience of rapid industrialization.

“China’s investment in Africa does not come with any political conditions attached, and will neither interfere in internal politics, nor make demands that people feel are difficult to fulfill,” Xi said during a keynote address to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation on Monday.

The money would be focused on infrastructure to help speed African countries’ development, not on “vanity projects,” Xi said.

Over the last two decades, China has gone from being a relatively small investor in Africa to becoming the continent’s largest economic partner.

But critics say that, with many of its infrastructure projects, China is luring needy countries into “debt traps.”

Analysts have raised concerns about African countries, many of which are subject to the whims of commodity markets, not being able to repay Chinese loans.