People acting like Belt and Road is classical imperialism makes sense. They think western powers’ influence ends at “we give you aid and that makes you dependent on us”. It is, unwittingly, basically the chud talking point about how the mere existence of welfare makes people driveling dependent babies. There’s no interest in understanding the mechanics. These liberals cannot show you a Chinese equivalent to the IMF and would be confused as to why you asked them to point one out. They don’t know or care that, on several occasions, the United States has overthrown governments just long enough to accept these predatory loans. You don’t even need your coup to succeed for it to be a success. Like Graeber says, one must always pay one’s debts.

Edit: wanted to add that many forms of assistance can accidentally make people dependent if they are focused on mere sustenance rather than empowerment. The United States purposefully makes their proxy governments weak (see the immediate collapse of the Afghan government during the US pullout) whereas it seems like China is looking to build up legitimate internal resources for these nations, both avoiding converting currency to the US dollar and building long-term relationships with the partner countries.