"Western diplomats see China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative as a 'debt trap' that ensnares developing nations in predatory loan terms for dubious projects. But these instances are better understood as mistakes by Beijing. Such trickery would undermine China’s econ...

Critics often claim that China is using its massive Belt and Road Initiative as a form of coercive "debt-trap diplomacy" to exert control over the countries that join the transnational infrastructure investment scheme.