politics

Japan seeks to organize Sri Lanka creditors' meeting on debt crisis

23 Comments
By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Takaya Yamaguchi

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Japan would be willing to chair such a meeting with China if that would speed up the process for addressing Sri Lanka's debt, estimated at $6.2 billion

Japan willing to chair but not to pay that 6.2 billion right?

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Another strange Reuters article that entirely fails to mention that 81% of Sri Lanka's foreign debt is owned by Western financial institutions, as well as Japan and India. Only 10% is owned by China. The top holders of the debt in the form of international sovereign bonds (ISBs) are:

BlackRock (US)

Ashmore Group (Britain)

Allianz (Germany)

UBS (Switzerland)

HSBC (Britain)

JPMorgan Chase (US)

Prudential (US)

The World Bank and the IMF are two major props of American control of the global financial system.

https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/11/debt-trap-sri-lanka-west-china/

Given the emphasis on China in the article and the failure to mention US/European ownership of the debt, it seems increasingly likely that Reuters are returning to their previous policy of state-affiliated propaganda.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/20/reuters-bbc-uk-foreign-office-russian-media/

20 ( +20 / -0 )

So are we now acknowledging the lies of the MSM and Western regimes about Sri Lanka being a victim of a "Chinese debt trap"? Given the fact that China isn't even the largest single creditor let alone in comparison with Japan and Western regimes in their entirety.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

but also its diplomatic interest in checking China's growing presence in the region.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

A nation in debt to China is a dead nation.

This is how China is and will dominate the third world.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

It's a good move. Beijing always prefers to make a deal with the debtor state in one-on-one bilateral negotiations which often end up further exploitative and discriminatory terms (worse, many of such bailout programmes(?) have yet to be reported to IMF).

There is already the case of multilevel talks over debt restructuring for Zambia where France brought China to a negotiation table.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japan cant manage own problems at home but likes to play Santa Claus when its about giving away monet we will never see back again...UA blackhole etc etc list of useless throwing away cases is endless.

someone say to Fumio that everyday people are having hard time to keep up with paying of bills for everyday life here,when salary is always same or even lower and living costs are higher,someone say to him here no support for young families with kids at al and that hospital system is collapsing as virtually here is no plan to solve covid issue at all...solve this first than think abt how to help to SriLanka.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Awa no Gaijin

Today 07:28 am JST

Japan doesn't have the problem solving skills or the extra finances to be throwing money around.

> And Japan networking with China to help other countries crisis is not happening.

> Why does Japan think it's a leader of Asia ?

I am not convinced Japan doesn't have problem solving skills.

Japan was 2.4% in July compared to western countries all over 7%,

Why the difference? Could it be because Japan is finally refusing to follow the typical western oriented system and is the only G7 not to raise interest rates as well as use other "not recommended" measures (AKA not western economy oriented measures).

Asian is a very different place, than Europe or North America, the sense of "collective" nature of the society is different.

Problems always arise when Asian countries try doing things or acting like western countries.

Look around, the Japanese government has certain things it keeps tight controls on, so does South Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc...each one has certain priorities, but not to protect industry like western countries imposed controls but for the population and as long as these things are available to the population at a reasonable price the populations are fine to wait out difficult times.

The west it is more I want it all and I individual oriented society.

Sri Lanka leadership forgot what part of the world it was living in.

Perhaps it is just the right time for Japan to admit it is part of Asia and take the collective nature of the Japanese and put it to good use.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

The situation in Sri Lanka was created by very bad governance.

The people deserved better.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Japan cant manage own problems at home

Really.

Inflation rates of the G7

Japan: 2.4%

France: 6.08%

Germany: 7.5%

Canada: 7.6%

Italy: 8.4%

USA: 8.5%

UK: 10%

Looks to me perhaps Japan knows something the others don't!

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

All this over a measley $6.3B? The US prints,,er,,spends that on the cause-de-jour every week. Heck, this week's spend was $500B+ on a flash on the pan. Seems like if the US wanted to buy good will, this would be pennies on the dollar.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

China was there first.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Alfie

 81% of Sri Lanka's foreign debt is owned by Western financial institutions

Apples and oranges Those were bonds that Sri Lanka issued and sold on the capital markets to whoever wanted to buy them, which is something nearly all countries do. If the institutions didn’t buy them, Sri Lanka would have defaulted a long time ago and its situation would have been a lot worse.

The obligation is fairly simple and strictly financial: the country pays back the interest and principal. However, when governments, ie, China and Japan, lend money to Sri Lanka, then things get a lot more complicated, problematic and nefarious.

We’re talking big powerful countries attempting to gain power and influence over small, vulnerable and impoverished countries through financial dependency. That’s why these debts need to be worked out. Sri Lanka defaulting to Blackrock wouldn’t be a big deal, beyond a credit rating downgrade. Defaulting to Beijing or Tokyo would have serious geopolitical implications. Your left-wing media wont tell you this.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japan knows not to include food & gas when measuring it's inflation..it results in numbers much lower than the countries that include them.

Utter nonsense. The Japanese government has been warning for months about inflation related to food and energy. It will probably get worse. It may triple to around 8% in the coming months. By which time it'll be around 30% in the UK, 20% in USA, 18% in Germany, 1% in India, China, Russia.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Like Sri Lanka, several countries have become insolvent like Argentina, Mexico, Pakistan, Iceland, Lebanon, etc. and many more are on their way to bankruptcy. The globalists lured countries to indebtedness so that they can gain control of those countries to set up their one world economy and one world government. These countries will be absorbed into a regional power and ten regions will be formed. These globalists have already divided the world into ten regions - which is the beast govt of the end times with ten horns. Out of the three horns will come the final world dictator, the AntiChrist who will have total control of the world through AI technology, blockchain technology, trade agreements, environmental policies, and health regulations by unelected global bureaucrats.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The obligation is fairly simple and strictly financial: the country pays back the interest and principal. However, when governments, ie, China and Japan, lend money to Sri Lanka, then things get a lot more complicated, problematic and nefarious.

Thanks for the necessary context, I have seen this argument being used several times recently without this very necessary distinction.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Sri Lanka is another example of complete failure of government policies like Venezuela. Sri Lanka dramatically cut fossil fuels which drove the prices into hyperinflation, cut fertilizers which collapsed the agriculture industry, and the economy went into complete collapse.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Tokyo is open to hosting talks among all the creditor nations aimed at lifting Colombo from its worst debt crisis since independence, but it is not clear whether top creditor China would join and a lack of clarity remains about Sri Lanka's finances, one source told Reuters.

based on Asian Development Bank’s wiki,

Traditionally, and because Japan is one of the largest shareholders of the bank (Asian Development Bank), the president has always been Japanese.

a simple google search shows that the largest creditor is Asian Development Bank, followed by Japan, then China. And Reuters quote an anonymous source saying China is the top creditor?

First rate storytelling indeed

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Only 10% is owned by China

wot a crock o shite ^. China has been forcing Sri Lanka to restructure debt so as to make debt appears to be private debt rather than government debt, eg the Hambantota port.

Fake news maketh a fakey character. You also omitted the fact, Chinese debt was on top of, existing responsible debt, which makes debt to China usury.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

https://www.ship-technology.com/analysis/hambantota-port-china-sri-lanka/

...read and avoid fakeies.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Nothing against helping friends when they have a hard time, but added to the financial aid to Africa, hopefully, it wasn't ordered from Japan's bigger ally.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The PRC can help them.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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