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Alex Lo

Spymasters the world over are in the business of dissimulation. But if you are the new head of British intelligence, Richard Moore, mainstream media in Britain from the BBC to the Daily Mail will take your words as gospel.
The Daily Mail only repeated the MI6 chief’s dubious claims about China’s “debt trap” diplomacy, many points of which have proved to be factually false over time.
The BBC went out of its way to twist the words of an American academic authority on the subject to make her appear to say the opposite of her actual position.
In his interview, Moore claimed that the debt trap had allowed China to be given the use of ports – which could be used as naval bases – in countries which are unable to repay loans.
He was, no doubt, thinking of the saga of the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota.

This claim, which is now known to be false, has been made by many people, including former US vice-president Mike Pence and former US national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
Deborah Brautigam, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and Meg Rithmire, of the Harvard Business School, have investigated and found there was never a debt swap for assets.
The BBC asked Brautigam for comments. The result so infuriated her she posted online a rebuttal, titled “BBC Misrepresents my Views on ‘Debt Trap Diplomacy’”.
“[Moore] said that the Chinese have deliberately used debt as leverage to acquire strategic assets,” she wrote.
“I outlined why this idea had little basis in fact, drawing on my extensive research with Meg Rithmire about the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka and other cases, and that of other researchers. I gave examples from Montenegro, Kenya, Zambia, and other places where these fears have been trumpeted in the media, but without evidence to support them.”
The narrative of China’s ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ is no more than a myth
It’s not for nothing that we in this business are called hacks.
She continued: “I listened to the BBC and was horrified to find that … they completely discarded all the evidence I presented … about why that conventional wisdom was not correct.”
Of course, the idea never makes sense. In the jungle of international politics, a lender like China could end up with nothing, rather than the assets desired. A new government or a leadership change in the borrowing country can renege on a deal and there is not much Beijing can do.


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My Take

How MI6 and BBC spread China’s debt trap myth

The port facility at Hambantota, in Sri Lanka, in 2015. Photo: Getty Images

Another China bailout? Fallout from crisis-hit Sri Lanka’s failed ‘organic utopia’ hurts hopes of a lifeline

A Sri Lankan vegetable farmer stands in his newly prepared tomato bed earlier this year, amid the country’s ban on imports of agrochemicals. Photo: AP

A Sri Lankan vegetable farmer stands in a newly prepared tomato bed in July amid the government’s ban on imports of agrochemicals. Photo: AP

A Sri Lankan tomato farmer in Keppetipola shows a pest-infected crop which he blames on the unavailability of chemical pesticides in July. Photo: AP

As Sri Lanka braces for a perfect economic storm, has China overtaken India in the race to provide a lifeline?

A worker at a tea plantation in Sri Lanka, where a drive to become the world’s first 100 per cent organic food producer has threatened its prized tea industry and triggered fears of a crop disaster that could deal a further blow to the beleaguered economy. Photo: AFP

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa rode to power in 2019 on promises of restoring prosperity. Photo: AP

Sri Lanka lost the Chinese-built Hambantota Port to Beijing on a 99-year lease. Photo: AFP

India counters China in Sri Lanka with US$700 million port deal

India and the US are concerned that a Chinese foothold at Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port could give Beijing a military advantage in the Indian Ocean. Photo: AFP

Pumps dredge sand to reclaim land at the site of a Chinese-funded $1.4 billion reclamation next to Colombo's main sea port on January 2, 2018. China will invest $1 billion in the construction of three 60-storey buildings at a mega-project near Sri Lanka's main port, Colombo said on January 2, as Beijing aims to boost its influence in the Indian Ocean. / AFP PHOTO / LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI

Opinion

Comment


A lender like China can end up with nothing, rather than the assets desired. A new government or a change of leadership in the borrowing country can renege on a deal and there is not much Beijing can do



A lender like China can end up with nothing, rather than the assets desired. A new government or a change of leadership in the borrowing country can renege on a deal and there is not much Beijing can do.


Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

My Take | How MI6 and BBC spread China’s debt trap myth

A lender like China can end up with nothing, rather than the assets desired. A new government or a change of leadership in the borrowing country can renege on a deal and there is not much Beijing can do