Australia has argued its own approach is transparent and would not overburden these nations. It has also welcomed co-operation with China.
But Senator Fierravanti-Wells has written in an opinion article for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that a region that already owed about $5.5 billion to international creditors didnt need to be saddled with more debt.
Having been critical of debt-trap diplomacy, will we not be equally guilty of burdening the Pacific with more debt? We might argue that our debt is more transparent than Beijings and therefore better debt. This is not only disingenuous but it is not in the long-term interests of PICs [Pacific island countries], she says.
Senator Fierravanti-Wells also questioned whether the Departmen…
Read the full article at: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/former-liberal-minister-blasts-morrison-government-over-pacific-debt-20190116-p50rr1.html