The debt for the BRI project was 103 percent of Montenegro’s GDP. Montenegro was not the first country that fell into the BRI debt trap. China has lent $461 billion to BRI projects since 2013, likely excluding an equal amount that’s not publicized.

The incident has been seen as a case-study in the regime’s “debt-trap diplomacy,” the report noted.

According to The Epoch Times' special series, "How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World," as part of the OBOR plan, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses loans it gives to developing countries to build infrastructure as "debt traps" to obtain

Debt Trap With increasing Chinese investment, there are fears in Nepal that the country might fall into a debt trap, much like what happened in Sri Lanka, according to a June 20 opinion article published on Nepali English news site My Republica.

in debt to the CCP.

First, OBOR countries get caught in a debt trap with the Chinese regime. Secondly, the construction on site do not benefit local workers. Thirdly, the consequences are often harmful for the environment.

The project has been criticized for steering developing countries into debt traps and for expanding the CCP’s military and political sphere of influence.

Debt-Trap Concerns Patrick J. Byrne, vice chairman of the National Civic Council, speaks to a crowd at Victoria State Library on Nov. 21, 2018.

In an interview with Reuters in Johannesburg, OPIC CEO Ray Washburne warned that the Chinese strategy has created a debt trap for many poor nations. "Just look at any project in these countries and they're overbuilding the size," he said.

On May 6, while speaking to Finnish broadcaster Yle Tv1, he said China could create a “debt trap” situation with its investments in Arctic countries—something that has already happened in other parts of the world.

China’s "buying" of developing countries via extreme debt may come under greater scrutiny, and limit China’s ability to ensnare additional countries into debt traps. In short, the CCP loses no matter what it does.

Teenage girls and women are also trapped in debt bondage. Once at the mining camps, traffickers tell them they have to pay for transport, food, and accommodation. Reuters contributed to this report.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking in London in May, slammed the Chinese regime for engaging in “corrupt infrastructure deals in exchange for political influence” and using “bribe-fueled debt-trap diplomacy." Also, the U.N.

In several countries, including Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam, locals have accused the BRI of being a platform to serve the CCP’s interests through debt-trap diplomacy.

It has been particularly concerned at how the BRI is a “debt trap” for many emerging countries in the region. These debts are issued through a wide range of Chinese local government and state-controlled institutions. U.S.

Beijing has been accused of putting developing countries in a “debt trap,” after these countries join China’s massive investment initiative of “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR, also known as Belt and Road).

“We should not turn a blind eye to the issue of debt trap. [Debt] shouldn’t be rejected, but we must agree to projects that are sustainable,” he said.

The study also highlighted the alarming trend of chronic debt among borrowers who find themselves trapped in a cycle of repeat loans, paying additional fees without receiving any new funds.

While they didn't directly reference China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative at the time, U.S. officials and critical voices in OBOR countries have called Beijing’s investments a “debt trap.”

The initiative has been criticized for putting developing countries into a “debt trap” as they struggle to repay hefty Chinese loans.

Critics have sounded warnings about the initiative, labeling it a form of “debt-trap diplomacy”—Wherein underdeveloped countries are saddled with hefty debts they may be unable to repay.

But he admits that's a two-way process, and instead, the CCP has amassed nuclear weapons, turned reefs and islands into unsinkable aircraft carriers, and has come to control 20 ports around the world through its trojan horse, debt-trap lending scheme,

The protesters carried placards reading, “No to China’s debt trap,” “Philippines is not for sale,” and “China, get out!”

But a Chinese takeover of a port in neighboring Sri Lanka and problems in several other countries have led to fears that the initiative is a debt trap to hook countries into China's sphere.

Before the election, the opposition said it would review Chinese investment, partly out of concern over terms, as experts have warned that the Maldives risked falling into a debt trap.

The BRI has been called a “debt trap” because of Beijing’s predatory lending practices, which leave countries vulnerable to China's aggressive influence campaigns.

"Criminal syndicates will use deceptive recruitment tactics to target and force vulnerable individuals into these appalling situations and trap them into endless cycles of debt, forced labour or domestic servitude," she said.

The CCP may issue stress-relief funds to address the real estate debt crisis, but these funds are mostly “trapped” within the financial system, Shi said.

China has used the OBOR initiative as debt trap diplomacy, investing heavily into poorer areas to create debts that can not be repaid financially, and instead traded for equity. This way China acquires strategic places, like a port in Sri Lanka.