May 14, 2018
From the article:
The concern expressed over China’s “overall goals and operations” in Africa follow remarks made last year by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warning African countries to steer clear of “predatory” loans from China, increasingly available to countries China wishes to bring into the fold of its global “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) economic takeover plan. Tillerson will travel to Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Chad, and Djibouti between March 6 and March 13 on his first trip to the continent.
Acting Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Don Yamamoto took questions from reporters regarding this trip on Monday, addressing the growing Chinese role in the affected nations. He noted that China recently established its first permanent overseas military base in Djibouti, across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, prompting many in Washington to wonder “what their overall goals and operations are on the continent.”
“And I think we need to have that discussion with China, and we are looking at what China is doing, not only in Djibouti but in other countries, particularly on the area of concessionary loan rates, which is providing high rates of indebtedness,” he told reporters.
...Many of China’s loans to African countries involve the development of infrastructure projects for OBOR.
A report published by the Centre for Global Development this week warned that OBOR projects are placing many of the countries it is affecting at risk for entering unsustainable debts. The report particularly mentioned Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, the Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro, Pakistan and Tajikistan as being “at particular risk of debt distress.”