China's Global Ambitions, With Loans and Strings Attached (Ecuador)

``The Ecuadorean foreign minister calls the shift to China a "diversification of its foreign relations," rather than a substitute for the United States or Europe. "We have decided that the most convenient and healthy thing for us," said the foreign minister, Ricardo Patiño, is "to have friendly, mutually beneficial relations of respect with all countries." The Chinese money, though, comes with its own conditions. Along with steep interest payments, Ecuador is largely required to use Chinese companies and technologies on the projects.'' -- Here is a cleartext version of the article.