Protests against MCC in Nepal: A chapter from Chinese debt trap playbook

China’s protracted lobbying efforts aimed at blocking international development assistance to smaller countries exposes its bullying behavior.  For firming up its iron grip over such countries, China lures them with debt financing linked with superfluous and unviable infrastructure projects. After these projects get stuck or shelved because of their inherent problems or motivated approach of the financer, the leftover debt imprint is too overwhelming for the vulnerable client countries.