The Chinese Government is popular in handing out loans, especially to poorer countries, but recent research has it that it has left majority of this developing and underdeveloped countries in massive "hidden debts", see the excerpt below:
Chinese loans leave developing countries with $385 billion in hidden debts, study says
The Chinese
belt and road initiative is a scheme designed by China to support developing countries by financing numerous projects in their country, but this scheme rather than actually aiding this countries, looks more like it makes them more and more indebted to China, see the excerpt below:
China currently spends at least twice as much on international development finance as the U.S. and other major economic powers, according to the AidData report — around $85 billion a year. However, this is often in the form of debt rather than aid,
Another flashpoint of the belt and road initiative is that majority of this loans isn't directed to institutions owned by the Central government of the borrowing country, but to state-owned establishments, private organizations etc, but all with the consent of the central government that can jump in to bail out companies that prolly can't repay the loans, thus by extension, many of this debts go underreported, but this countries are actually in greater debt to China than most of the world actually knows, see the excerpt below:
These debts are systematically underreported to the World Bank’s Debtor Reporting System (DRS) because, in many cases, central government institutions in LMICs [lower- and middle-income countries] are not the primary borrowers responsible for repayment, the report said.
Having said all these, is this a way that the Chinese government intends to keep many countries of the world indebted to them through this debt trap, knowing fully well that most of them would falter in repaying the loan leaving the Chinese government no other option but to seize some of their assets, I see this to be amongst China's plan towards being the country with the best economy in the world in some years to come, and just as is typical with the dictatorial Chinese government, they want to be the only ones at the advantage, leaving others at the receiving end.
Here is the source of the news for better understanding:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/30/study-chinese-loans-leave-developing-countries-with-385-billion-in-hidden-debts.htmlIn my own opinion, I would never blame the Chinese. I would rather blame the "borrowing nations". Just as you have rightly stated some of these funds end up in the pockets of private organizations and very highly corrupt government officials. Come to think of it, countries who always run to China to borrow are mostly blessed with both natural and human resources in the world yet because of poor leadership and corruption they refuse to invest in their nation. Most of these funds are never used to build industries or develop their economy. If it actually were, then they would be off debt in no time. It such a pity and a shame.