Source: GT Published: 2024-02-23

China and the US have maintained communication through bilateral and multilateral channels on debt issues, and China is willing to work with all sides to continue making efforts for easing the debt of developing countries, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, said on Friday.

The remarks were made in response to reports on the two countries' discussion on new measures to prevent a wave of emerging market sovereign debt defaults.

Speaking at the regular press conference on Friday, Mao said that as a matter of principle, China has always attached great importance to the debt issue of developing countries. Adhering to the principles of equality, consultation, cooperation, and mutual benefit, China has consistently worked to help alleviate the debt burden of developing countries and promote sustainable development, the spokesperson said.

China has actively participated in initiatives such as the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative and other cooperative frameworks, she added.

According to Bloomberg's report on Friday, the US and China are discussing new measures to prevent a wave of emerging market sovereign defaults, citing people familiar with the matter, a move that the media described as 'one of the most significant attempts in years at economic cooperation' between the two countries.

The talks - including ways to pre-emptively extend loan periods before countries miss payments - are broadly aimed at both easing the $400 billion-plus annual debt service burden for poor countries and finding an alternative to the high borrowing rates those nations now face in the market, according to the media report.

The engagements between China and the US are not just positive signals for both economies but also for the international community as a whole, because cooperation between the world's two biggest economies could greatly boost global economic development and help address rising global challenges and risks, Liu Ying, a research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, said in a recent interview with the Global Times.

'It is hoped that such talks will lead both countries to meet each other halfway and continuously promote normal China-US economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges,' Liu said.