The Chinese “Debt Trap”: Exhibit A - A critical analysis of the China–Sri Lanka Hambantota port affair
(2024) STVK04 20241Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- China’s financial actions along the BRI network has sparked a lot of controversies, one of these being the alleged usage of Debt Trap Diplomacy (DTD) in order to gain access to resources through debt relief that they otherwise would not be able to reach through traditional means. DTD practices can be considered part of the International Political Economy’s ‘blind spots’ due to their complexity and their hard to ascertain nature. The driving factor behind this discourse regarding DTD seems to be China’s immense growth in both their own financial capacity but also their influence over policies within the sphere of decision making of other foreign actors. Brahma Chellaney, who is credited to have coined the term DTD, refers to the Hambantota... (More)
- China’s financial actions along the BRI network has sparked a lot of controversies, one of these being the alleged usage of Debt Trap Diplomacy (DTD) in order to gain access to resources through debt relief that they otherwise would not be able to reach through traditional means. DTD practices can be considered part of the International Political Economy’s ‘blind spots’ due to their complexity and their hard to ascertain nature. The driving factor behind this discourse regarding DTD seems to be China’s immense growth in both their own financial capacity but also their influence over policies within the sphere of decision making of other foreign actors. Brahma Chellaney, who is credited to have coined the term DTD, refers to the Hambantota affair, a deal between China and Sri Lanka, as the ‘Exhibit A’ of China’s application of DTD in international relations. This thesis uses a modification of Bacchi’s WPR questions in combination with the theories of Finance-Security Nexus, Dependency Theory and Neorealism, in order to answer ‘how the problem is represented’ and why it is represented the way it is. DTD requires, by definition, that the lender knowingly incur debt in order to exploit, but that is not the case of the Hambantota affair, contrary to what has become the popular opinion in Western dominated spheres. The reason this is important to study is because the way we problematize a situation has an immense impact on how we go about discussing and solving it. Without diagnosing it properly, we can take the correct measures to resolve it. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9171575
- author
- Strandelius, Carl LU
- supervisor
-
- Ian Manners LU
- organization
- course
- STVK04 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Debt Trap Diplomacy, China, Sri Lanka, Hambantota Port, WPR, Finance-Security Nexus, IPE, Blind Spots, Parallel Global Economic Order
- language
- English
- id
- 9171575
- date added to LUP
- 2024-10-01 11:18:17
- date last changed
- 2024-10-01 11:18:17
@misc{9171575,
abstract = {{China’s financial actions along the BRI network has sparked a lot of controversies, one of these being the alleged usage of Debt Trap Diplomacy (DTD) in order to gain access to resources through debt relief that they otherwise would not be able to reach through traditional means. DTD practices can be considered part of the International Political Economy’s ‘blind spots’ due to their complexity and their hard to ascertain nature. The driving factor behind this discourse regarding DTD seems to be China’s immense growth in both their own financial capacity but also their influence over policies within the sphere of decision making of other foreign actors. Brahma Chellaney, who is credited to have coined the term DTD, refers to the Hambantota affair, a deal between China and Sri Lanka, as the ‘Exhibit A’ of China’s application of DTD in international relations. This thesis uses a modification of Bacchi’s WPR questions in combination with the theories of Finance-Security Nexus, Dependency Theory and Neorealism, in order to answer ‘how the problem is represented’ and why it is represented the way it is. DTD requires, by definition, that the lender knowingly incur debt in order to exploit, but that is not the case of the Hambantota affair, contrary to what has become the popular opinion in Western dominated spheres. The reason this is important to study is because the way we problematize a situation has an immense impact on how we go about discussing and solving it. Without diagnosing it properly, we can take the correct measures to resolve it.}},
author = {{Strandelius, Carl}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Chinese “Debt Trap”: Exhibit A - A critical analysis of the China–Sri Lanka Hambantota port affair}},
year = {{2024}},
}