Montenegro mortgaged itself to China. Now it wants Europe’s help to cut it free.

Highway construction by China Road and Bridge Corp. in Montenegro in April 2019. Montenegro’s first repayments are due this summer on a $1 billion loan from China to build the highway to neighboring Serbia. (Savo Prelevic/AFP/Getty Images)

Few Europeans thought it was a good idea for Montenegro to take a mammoth loan from China to build a highway. Now the tiny, mountainous country is asking the European Union for help to repay the debt — and the answer, so far, has been no.

The situation in Montenegro is the latest skirmish in an escalating global push for influence by China, which has made inroads in economically weak countries by offering loans that demand loyalty to Beijing but otherwise have few strings attached.