Chinese infrastructure company sues local governments over debt payments

China Pacific Construction Group founder Yan Jiehe announced Monday that his company was suing six local governments for late infrastructure contract payments, The Financial Times reported. Yan said the actions marked the first such suits launched against local governments, debts of which reached RMB18 trillion (US$2.88 trillion) by June of last year according to China’s National Audit Office. “It’s very rare for a private company to sue the government in general. I can’t recall a similar case,” said Zhiwei Zhang, China chief economist for Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong. “It’s also a signal for other counterparties Pacific Construction does business with.”