China’s Investments in Rwanda Raise Familiar Questions About Debt
KIGALI, Rwanda—The prime minister’s office here is a shiny new complex in the heart of the capital that was inaugurated in April by the incumbent, Édouard Ngirente, who used the occasion to praise his country’s relationship with its economic benefactor in recent years: China.
The complex, built at a cost of $27 million, was a gift from the Chinese government to Rwanda—or, as Ngirente put it, “yet another indicator of how ... the relationship between China and Rwanda is always growing stronger.”
Indeed, many testaments to the progress since the end of the Rwandan genocide— of a stable government, the behind a growing economy, the for an emerging middle class—have been built by the Chinese. The projects have been marked by red flags, stars, and plaques, which have put in plain sight a rising, and worrying, trend for Rwanda and the region. Even as China invests more attention and resources in Africa’s development, it sinks nations on the continent deeper into debt and dependence. Now many in the West—prominent , , , and more—believe that the costs are outweighing the benefits and that Chinese investments are imperiling African prosperity and sovereignty in
