Tonga has asked Beijing to restructure its large bilateral debt load, the government said yesterday, as the COVID-19 pandemic upends the region’s tourism revenue and an onerous Chinese loan repayment schedule looms.
Tonga is one of the biggest Chinese debtors in the South Pacific, with its financial reliance dating back to loans taken more than a decade ago to rebuild its capital, Nuku’alofa, after riots.
The economy, largely dependent on external aid and remittances from Tongans living abroad, has since taken out additional loans.
Tonga is due to make small principal repayments to the Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM) this financial year before the schedule ramps up in 2023-2024, when it will need to set aside about 15 percent of revenue to service external debts.
“Government is putting in place a strategy to prepare for future payment of these EXIM loans while noting that it has further requested a restructure of both loans,” the government said in a budget statement.
The government did not respond to questions.
Two sources with knowledge of its financial position told reporters that it had asked for the debt to be canceled, but had yet to receive a response from Beijing.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tonga has previously got reprieves on the timing of principal repayments, although the debt has remained outstanding.
Its total external debt stands at US$186 million, with almost two-thirds owed to China, the budget statement shows.
The US and its Western allies worry that China is using debt to secure influence over strategically located Pacific islands, claims that Beijing has repeatedly denied.
In February, the IMF said that despite recent prudent management, Tonga’s risk of external debt distress was high due to borrowing.
With no confirmed coronavirus infections, Tonga has been easing internal controls, although travel restrictions around the world have devastated the tourism industry in the Pacific.
“Most money coming into Tonga at the moment is through remittance,” said Simana Kami, owner of the Oholei Beach Resort, adding that most of his customers arrived on cruise ships or via international flights.
“Those without relatives earning an income overseas are suffering,” he told reporters by telephone. “We are open, but not at break even. It’s sad, we are an empty paradise.”
With YouTube videos “debunking” allegations of human rights abuses and diatribes on Western “conspiracies” against China, an unlikely set of foreigners is loudly defending Beijing against international critics. They are teachers and business owners from the UK, Colombia and Singapore, a collage of YouTubers garnering fame for their video takedowns of what they say are unfair accusations against Beijing. Videos alternate between praise of China’s rapid development and rebuttals of negative foreign reports about the country. Experts say they are being deployed as a weapon in the information war against China’s critics, with hundreds of videos reaching millions of viewers. “I am trying to
Hospitals are overwhelmed, ventilators are difficult to find and there is no longer enough space at the main cemetery for COVID-19 victims in Mauritius. Barely three weeks before it fully opens its doors to international travelers at the start of the peak tourist season, the island nation is struggling with an alarming explosion in COVID-19 infections and deaths. In just two months, cases have jumped more than fivefold to more than 12,600 as of Friday, by far the largest increase across Africa during this period, data compiled by Agence France-Presse showed. Since the pandemic started, Mauritius has recorded 1,005 cases of COVID-19 per
ELEVATED PARTNERSHIP: The agreement enables Japan to share its equipment and technology, as the countries deepen defense ties amid China worries Japan is to give defense equipment and technology to Vietnam under an agreement signed on Saturday, as the two countries step up their military cooperation amid worries about China’s growing military influence. Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi said the deal elevates the countries’ defense partnership “to a new level,” and that Japan and Vietnam plan to deepen defense ties through multinational joint exercises and other means. Details about the transfer of specific equipment, including naval vessels, is to be worked out in subsequent talks, the ministry said. Kishi’s meeting with Vietnamese Minister of Defense Phan Van Giang in Hanoi
A city in southern China that is trying to contain a COVID-19 outbreak told the public on Sunday not to leave, suspended bus and train services, and closed cinemas, bars and other facilities. Anyone needing to leave Putian, a city of 2.9 million people in China’s Fujian Province, for an essential trip must have proof of a negative coronavirus test within the past 48 hours, the city government said. China declared the virus under control early last year, but has suffered outbreaks of the more contagious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. Authorities say that most cases have been traced to travelers arriving from
RSS