China lavishes aid on Pakistan town, as it builds a deepwater port

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The Pakistani port of Gwadar is being built by China as part of its widening geopolitical expansion efforts. However, in contrast to other infrastructure projects it is being accompanied by some $500m in grants. The normal Chinese modus operandi is state-backed loans, which come with caveats that the debtors may not be fully aware of: compare and contrast with Gwadar’s Sri Lankan counterpart, Hambantota, the construction of which loaded the government in Colombo with so much debt that last week it gave China a 99-year lease on the port in return for reducing the repayments.