As far as I'm aware, China has been giving loans to various countries in Africa and building infrastructure in exchange for money and maybe some stuff like recognizing Taiwan as part of China. But why do people say China is imperialist for doing this? Is there truth to it or is it another strain of radlibs eating state department propaganda?
There's a long article in the Atlantic of all places that debunks in detail the Sri Lankan port thing and explains there is no Chinese debt trap https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/02/china-debt-trap-diplomacy/617953/
Yeah, I think this is where I first found out exactly why the debt trap idea was bullshit. I mean, I assumed it was because it was a western "China Bad" meme, but this is where I found out exactly how they were lying.