A video demonstrating how debt owed to China could be a trap for many countries has gone viral on Facebook with the name 'Chinese Money Trap'
In the video, popular travel video blogger, Nuseir Yassin, on his page Nas Daily, explains how being in debt to the China Government may not be a good idea after traveling to several countries in a period of three years.
He illustrates using 10,000 dollars, stating that just like a person who gets a loan and will have to return it with a little interest, is the same thing happening to countries borrowing from China.
"Most people would get the money and go buy a nice car, however, in ten years it would be time to pay back and because of interest rates, you will owe 20,000 dollars," he demonstrates.
Due to lack of money, the borrower would have to give up the property they acquired using the loan.
Yassin likens this situation to developing countries acquiring debts from China for building airports, highways and shipping ports in order to develop.
He adds that after some years, China will want its debts paid and the developing countries will be unable to pay and will be forced to give China control over some of the assets used using the loan.
"If you look closely, all these infrastructure projects like highways, ports and bridges connect to China, through the sea or land to form something more powerful than just a bridge," he stated.
"The world is already made in China and slowly will be owned by China," he added.
Yassin mentions Kenya among Sri Lanka, South Africa and others that are in great debt to China.
In research done by the China Africa Research Initiative data, Kenya is ranked the third most indebted country in Africa in the period between 2000 to 2017.
Kenya's borrowing to China stood at Ksh 980 billion at the end of 2017, having decreased significantly in 2017, compared to the years 2014 to 2016.
