Tuesday, April 16, 2024

China Slams US for Sabotaging Zambia’s Debt Talks, Accuses Treasury Secretary of Ignoring America’s Own Fiscal Woes

Share

China has issued a strongly worded statement in response to comments made by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on her recent visit to Zambia. Ms Yellen had claimed that China was holding up debt restructuring talks in Zambia, but the Chinese government has denied these claims and advised the US to focus on its own domestic debt issues instead.

The statement follows remarks issued by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on her visit to Lusaka that China was holding up the debt talks

Ms. Yellen was quoted as saying that China needed to move with speed while President Hakainde Hichilema urged all parties to ensure that Zambia’s debt restructuring talks were concluded in the first quarter of the year.

In the statement, the Chinese Embassy in Zambia said that “the best prospect of the debt issues outside the U.S. would be the U.S. Treasury Department solving the U.S.’ own domestic debt problem, given how well she knows about facts, her professional capacities and her team’s implementation ability.”

“Assuming Secretary Yellen’s statements about debt were correct, the best prospect of the debt issues outside the U.S. would be the U.S. Treasury Department solving the U.S.’ own domestic debt problem, given how well she knows about facts, her professional capacities and her team’s implementation ability.”

The spokesperson went on to note that, according to news reports, the U.S. Treasury has begun taking “extraordinary measures” to meet its obligations, after the U.S. government hit its $31.4tn borrowing limit. Secretary Yellen has urged lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling sooner rather than later to avoid an unprecedented default and protect the credit of the United States.

The Chinese Embassy spokesperson also stated that Yellen’s words and actions have “eloquently revealed how and why the U.S.’ catastrophic debt problem is emerging, which convinces the world to drop the previous assumption that her statements about debt issues are correct.”

The statement also highlighted China’s active role in co-chairing Zambia’s Official Creditor’s Committee under the G20 Common Framework and working to find a sustainable solution for Zambia’s debt related to China. It also said that China looks forward to the US playing a “constructive role in the process.”

The Chinese government concluded the statement by saying that “even if the U.S. one day solves its debt problem, it is not qualified to make groundless accusations against or press for other countries out of selfish interests, because it cannot at all alleviate U.S.’ tremendous responsibility for the reason of the world debt issues, let alone the fact the U.S.’ domestic debt problem is now worsening the the world’s economic and financial stability.”

46 COMMENTS

  1. THE REPORTER OR AUTHOR OF THE ARTICLE IS BIASED AND MISLEADING THE READERS. EVE IFBYOU ARE IN THE OPPOSITION LEARN TO REPORT WITH CIVILITY

    2
    12
  2. We told you so…now how come our president seems to be the last person to know about international affairs? Yet again, our opposition leaders can take this statement as proof that 2H is a captured soul. He is operating on strings but forgetting that Zambia and America borrowed from the same source, China. Our opposition leaders should team up and start working with the Chinese to stop this madness.

    16
    4
  3. Of course the Chinese would not admit they are holding up the negotiations.
    The statement they issued is just a diversion.
    What does saying the Americans should concentrate on their debts do to help Zambia.

    6
    13
  4. When the IMF pressured Zambia to speak to the creditors as a condition to releasing the $1.3 billion bailout, the Chinese ambassador was on TV urging the IMF to give Zambia the money. It is strange that the Chinese are now dragging their feet on debt restructuring and picking fights with the US.
    The other creditors are clearly waiting for China to make a move.

    8
    15
  5. It seems like Sampoman has bequeathed Zambia’s responsibility to negotiate its debt crisis with China to his capturers. It explains why he’s ignored our advice for him to travel to China and meet President Xi. He can come back with a positive outcome because Zambia didn’t borrow through 3rd parties. The US has its own issues with China and its quest to use Zambia as a pawn in it’s battle for dominance with China might leave Zambia bruised.

    13
    4
  6. Zambia has maxed out its credit account with the Chinese…………..

    there is no more to bargin for without giving up sovereignty……

    This is how the Chinese operate………..

    They give you all this development credit, if you fail to payback or ask for renegotiation……….

    They have marked out which state assets they will assume to recover their money……….

    ZESCO, some national parks are on their radar………….

    Those who think the Chinese give free money because they love you , need medication……….there is no free meal with a China man. He is less ruthless and blatant than an Indian, but more strategic , with long term goals with stealth ……

    10
    11
  7. Just a small raise in the tax rate and fair taxation of the rich in the USA would help to stabilize public finances in America. But the loony right would have none of that. The same loony right doesn’t mind busting the budget to fight needless wars.

    7
    1
  8. It’s simple. We just need to be independent in dealing with our problems. Face our problems and admit we have a problem. We should not use proxies to find solutions to our problems. That is what the Chinese are advising. That is what most people have said on this fora. If we do that a solution will be found without any fights. Now look who is getting embarrassed.

    8
    1
  9. This is a very shallow comment from the Chinese Embassy spokesperson. Chinese cooperation is the bottleneck to the speed at which Zambia’s debt restructuring takes place.. This is the issue Yellen was raising. Ofcourse she was also taking advantage of the situation to dent the image of the Chinese but the fact remains that the Chinese are holding up the process. The Chinese spokesperson decides to muddy the waters by bringing in US debt and debt ceiling issues. This is a wake up to all those who think the Chinese are our all weather friends and that they meant well when they were giving us loans they knew we would default on.

    5
    15
    • Makunku It is not a shallow comment: a US Senator went on an anthill to tell the world that now they have an ally in Zambia to fight Chinese hegemony in Africa. Do you understand how that careless statement complicated our position with our very large creditor? What this means now is that we are the grass that is going to suffer in the West-East fight. The Chinese are going to procrastinate in the debt restructuring process, not necessarily to punish us, but more so to show America that they hold the four aces.

    • “they knew we would default on?” Is this just how the benefit of hindsight makes some of you great expert fortune tellers who pretend to be cleverer?

  10. Kikikikiki when I said Yellen should concentrate on dealing with the mounting US debt which has skyrocketed to over 40 trillion dollars because of the corrupt Bidden administration…we buying gas at $4 per gallon….things have become so expensive here in the USA….

    8
    2
  11. We just have a begger mentality….we have plenty natural resources to survive without Kaloba…..there’s no way we grow our economy going around with a begging bowl…we need to work hard….but we choose the easy way which is begging….HH IN OPPOSITION WAS AGAINST BEGGING AND BACK TO BACK FOREIGN TRIPS BUT NOW HH IS ALWAYS AIRBORNE

    • Beggar mentality comes from “depend on the white man syndrome” which comes from our having been colonised. Ways of conquering it include minimising the copycatting of everything from Europe including academic theories, dress, culture, tastes, We should end the beggar’s culture and just demand compensantion for slavery and colonisation full stop

  12. HH needs to stop this appeasement of his masters and put Zambia’s interests first…stop flying all over the place for pointless and prepare a trip to Beijing.

  13. We love to be enslaved….I think it’s part of our DNA…..now we have Western masters and eastern masters and Arabic masters….it turns out HH is empty tin….no wonder he can’t even explain the source of his wealth

  14. We should stop being naive. HH flying to Beijing is not going to solve anything. Do you think the Chinese were not aware that they were lending us money we were not going to be able to repay? Ofcourse they did but they did it anyway for the sole purpose of getting us into this exact position that we are in. Ask yourself why PF that was so close to China didn’t fly to Beijing to get us out of this mess but rather pursued (unsuccessfully) IMF assistance for 2 years. They are not interested in giving us pragmatic way out of this, hence the dragging of feet. Theirs is an asset/ resource grabbing, enslavement mission. Wake up!!

    3
    3
    • You want to shift the blame to the lender when Zambia went crying for this kaloba and was happy to receive it. You Africans are always looking for someone else to blame other than yourselves. Zambia is a pawn the US are using to get at China and you seem to be happy about this yet it wont help you get out of your debt. Work out your on plan out of this. Dont rely on IMF and the US

    • At least the Americans would have a black president……….

      Try taking your black monkey as.ss to China to try and be president……….and see

      1
      5
    • @Spaka… blacks never benefitted from Obama’s presidency.
      China can’t have a black president because they never imported slaves and besides a normal black person can’t settle in China. They are good business partner that’s all…. remember Tazara built almost for free at a difficult time.

      3
      1
  15. @ Spaka
    Yellen is coming to lecture your godfather HH on economy whilst the Bidden administration has brought misery on us here in the USA….you go with a $100 to a grocery store you walk out with just a few groceries….now USA is hungry for natural resources….and your god HH thinks the bazungu like him….they just want to steal our natural resources
    Bidden administration is the most corrupt administration ever…the morooon Bidden has been in Politics since he was in kindergarten and now he is almost 90years old

    7
    1
    • Every goverment has its friends…….

      And it so happens that the UPND government has western friends………..or is more western leaning……….

      So you think the Chinese don’t want to steal our natural resources ???

      Inflation is a global problem right now, every where we have economic misery brought on by the ukrain war.

  16. the woman came to deliver a mission statement putting the last nile on the coffin ( Zambia is now a friend of the US ) bringing the USA , CHINA cold war on Zambian soil. this is what they are best known for.

  17. I dont understand how some people are so afraid of white westerners…………..

    Do you still have slavery memories ???

    Even the Chinese and indoans were enslaved but have learned to move on and get what the want from the whites….

    While it seems you are still stuck with a complex mental block of fear of whites……..

    1
    4
    • It’s either you get it or you don’t…iwe it’s seems you never get anything even with siri at your finger tips, you just argue for the sake of it.

    • If there is one person with a slave mentality on this forum it is Spaka. Just check his posts from a long time back. He thinks we should be pandering to Europeans and doesnt even have a modicum of understanding of World politics

  18. In fact those against rapprochement with the west are hypocrites………..

    You dress like them,

    speak and communicate in their language,

    your governance and judiciary is based on their system,

    your education is based on their system……

    can’t do without their aid money…………

    And you come here calling HH a muzungu ani konda……….???

    You are a product of the west…….

    1
    5
    • #Spaka if today HH makes 360 degrees turn in favour of the Chinese you will still find ways to defend him and of course you will have enough praises for the Chinese and their “good nature”
      Why can’t you be your own man.

  19. For as long as we depend on the west or the east to develop our country…we will never develop…the west and the east both laugh at African countries because we don’t know how to govern ourselves and create our own wealth…in opposition HH used to badmouth his predecessor Lungu to the western countries….HH used to run to the bazungu and talk bad about his own country…..HH was very unpatriotic in opposition….and today he’s just realized that bazungu are good at using him as a chola boy

  20. Looks like Anthony Bwalya will now start dealing in used Japanese cars in Dar….money is within the corridors of the State House….but all of a sudden he is being shipped to Tanzania….looks like HH wasn’t comfortable with a “Bwalya” walking around the State House corridors

  21. Note that both are super powers, China wants our Copper whilst USA want our Uranium, Lithium, Manganese and Cobalt,
    hence the fight. China wants to help Zambia through WEALTH CREATION ( Wealth of any Nation is measured by the levels of INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT) . The USA , IMF and WORLD BANK, Their interest is PROFIT MAXIMISATION by way of EXPLOITATION, GREED, UNEMPLOYMENT and
    CORRUPTION through ” KALOBA”

  22. In Zimbabwe all the mines are owned by Mr. Billy Rautenbach who used to be the owner of wheels of Africa transport…. now you know where all the money from the Zimbabwe mines is going…definitely to his bazungu friends in the Western countries whilst Zimbabwe is struggling with poverty and high unemployment rate

  23. @ Dejavu
    You can’t compare Trump to a old man who sometimes forgets his own name……Trump is a lunatic but i think he was a much better President than sickly Bidden…America was way better when Trump was President….Just look at Biden’s administration…all corrupt moroooons

    1
    1

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading