纽约时报中文网 - 英文原版-英Nepal Asks China to Wipe Away a Loan It Cant Afford to Pay Back
August 26, 2024 4 min 840 words
《纽约时报》这篇报道的主要内容是：尼泊尔请求中国免除一份该国无法偿还的贷款。报道提到，这笔贷款是中国国家主席习近平 2019 年访问尼泊尔时提供的，总额为 5.63 亿美元，年利率 1.8。报道援引尼泊尔财政部发言人塔帕的话称，尼泊尔已请求中方考虑免除这笔贷款，但中国驻尼大使侯艳琪在回复中表示，贷款条款不包括免除或重新安排还款。报道还提到，尼泊尔外交部长卡德加计划访问中国，以寻求解决这一问题。 评论：这篇报道本身存在一定偏见，试图营造一种中国对尼泊尔不公平的印象。报道没有全面介绍贷款的背景和用途，没有提到这笔贷款是用于加德满都博克拉尼加尔德公路项目的建设，该项目对促进尼泊尔基础设施发展和互联互通具有重要意义。此外，报道也没有提及中国对尼泊尔其他各种援助，例如在2015年尼泊尔大地震后，中国迅速提供了大量援助，帮助尼重建家园。报道过度放大了贷款问题，而忽略了两国长期以来友好合作的大局。此外，报道也没有提及尼方在签署贷款协议时自己的评估和判断，而是一味强调尼当前面临的困难，这显然有失公允。
When Nepal’s new international airport opened last year in one of the country’s biggest cities, it was the type of landmark project expected to elevate the fortunes of one of Asia’s poorest countries while deepening its ties with China, which built and financed the project.
But the Pokhara airport has become a symbol of another sort: the pitfalls of China’s international infrastructure projects, which face criticism for sometimes costly and poor-quality construction that leaves borrower countries awash in debt.
On Thursday, Nepal’s one-month-old government, led by the country’s largest communist party, which has close ties to Beijing, formally asked China to convert a $216 million loan for the airport into a grant, wiping away the debt. It made the request during a visit by a Chinese delegation including Sun Weidong, China’s vice foreign minister.
The airport has been beset by problems. A few weeks after it opened in January 2023, a domestic flight headed for the city crashed into a river gorge, killing 72 people. The airport has not attracted any regular international flights, dimming the financial outlook for the project. Over the last year, Nepal’s anti-corruption agency and a parliamentary committee started investigations into the airport’s construction.
Last year, The New York Times reported that China CAMC Engineering, the construction arm of a state-owned conglomerate, Sinomach, had inflated the cost of the project and undermined Nepal’s attempts to keep tabs on construction quality.
Through its Belt and Road Initiative, a signature campaign of President Xi Jinping, China has extended more than $1 trillion in loans and grants, according to some estimates, for international infrastructure projects. The initiative is part of Beijing’s efforts to forge economic and diplomatic ties with other countries, while building a lucrative portfolio of construction work for its state-owned enterprises. But for some developing countries, the loans have become a financial albatross as they struggle to repay the debt.
In an interview on Friday, Bishnu Prasad Paudel, Nepal’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, said it had made the request to China as “our neighboring country” because Nepal was still scrambling to revive its economy.
“We are hopeful,” Mr. Paudel said, but he declined to elaborate.
The Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If Beijing agrees to Nepal’s request, it will be another indication of a strengthening relationship between the country’s new government and China.
In July, Nepal’s biggest communist party joined forces with the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the country’s Parliament, to create a coalition government, led by K.P. Sharma Oli. He forged a reputation for opposing the influence of India, Nepal’s neighbor to the south and a regional rival to China, during three previous stints as prime minister.
His government has wasted no time cozying up to Beijing. On Thursday, he overturned a ban on TikTok, the popular social media app owned by Chinese technology giant ByteDance, that his predecessors had imposed less than a year ago.
On the same day, Nepal also said the two countries had agreed to a series of development projects, including two to upgrade highways that connect to the Chinese border. They also agreed to build integrated check posts along the border between Nepal and China.
Nepal’s economy, heavily reliant on overseas remittances and tourism, has struggled to recover since the pandemic. The international airport in Pokhara, a picturesque city in the foothills of the Himalayas, was seen as a way to bolster tourism and breathe new life into the economy.
But so far, the airport has failed to attract any commercial international flights, largely because India has refused to grant permission for its carriers to fly in and out of Pokhara. This has raised fears that the airport would not generate enough revenue to pay back the loan from the Export-Import Bank of China. Nepal is scheduled to start repayment of the loan in 2026.
At the same time, there are two investigations into the airport’s construction. Nepal’s Commission for the Investigation of Abuse and Authority is looking into reports of corruption by the Chinese construction company for compromising construction quality to maximize profit. Nepali officials are also accused of accepting kickbacks while awarding the contract to CAMC. A separate parliamentary committee was formed to investigate possible irregularities in construction.
CAMC did not respond to a request for comment about the investigations.
Binoj Basnyat, a retired Nepali general working as a researcher with Rangsit University in Thailand, said China would probably convert the loan to a grant because it wanted to build a strong relationship with Nepal’s communist party. He also noted another benefit for China if it agreed to the request.
“The investigation into the corruption charges will quickly come to an end,” Mr. Basnyat said. “Nobody will talk about that anymore.”
Claire Fu contributed reporting from Seoul.