This briefing note reviews the institutional landscape of Chinese financial and lending institutions, and its approach to overseas debt relief. It maps out the key institutions and agencies within China’s overseas development finance architecture and disaggregates between different lending institutions, highlighting differing incentive structures and approaches to debt relief.
It also highlights the disparate and fragmented ministries and institutions involved in different aspects of China’s overseas development finance, and outlines the different incentive structures at work within institutions which condition potential debt restructuring outcomes. This research was conducted for a rapid response briefing, and draws from primary data and eight informant interviews, which took place in March 2021.
