China Seeks Assurances Against Possible Debt Default by Venezuela

(Beijing) – The Chinese government used to be lenient with its allies who ran into trouble with their debt servicing, but its tone has changed ahead of a looming crisis in Venezuela.

China had waived 25.6 billion yuan in loans to 50 countries as at the end of 2009, a government white paper on foreign aid published in 2011 showed. Many of them were low-income countries in Africa including Tanzania and Sudan – two of China's closest allies in the continent – and others were in Latin America and Asia.