China status poses big questions

摘要

Plans by Pakistan's new government, led by former cricketing great Imran Khan, to approach the International Monetary Fund for a bailout of up to US$12bn has sparked objections that the money may simply be deployed to refinance loans to Chinese lenders. Last Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with CNBC there was "no rationale" for a bailout that pays off Chinese loans to Pakistan. "Make no mistake. We will be watching what the IMF does," Pompeo said. "There's no rationale for IMF tax dollars, and associated with that American dollars that are part of the IMF funding, for those to go to bail out Chinese bondholders or China itself."