The United States pays interest on approximately $850 billion in debt held by the People’s Republic of China. China, however, is currently in default on its sovereign debt held by American bondholders.

  • yhorm@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    if you owe your bank manager a modest debt you are in his power; if you owe a huge debt, he is in yours.

  • kurosawaa@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    What a dumb article. Britain was broke in the 80s and needed the money and pressed the issue. China was weak at the time and wanted Hong Kong back peacefully. Under those circumstances it made since to pay the debt. Today China has the second largest economy in the world and zero incentive to pay back America, and no one expects them too.

    There is no such magic thing as calling in a debt. If China is in default and no one cares, the debt practically does not exist. Americans complaining about it won’t affect China’s interest rates or anything else.