[jemmyw]

Using debt to buy a better future is a tried and tested economic mechanism. The idea being that your eventual economy is so much bigger than the debt. Taiwan is an example where it was even potentially risky but still paid off.

China did use debt like this but it has added too much debt at the provincial and company level for things that won't pay back ever.

Western countries do this too. If the US used debt to fund some of the infrastructure projects it sorely needs then that might pay off. If it uses debt to keep taxes lower then that can't have a payoff. It does both of course, but more on taxes and maintenance than on infrastructure.

What countries could do with is a way to stop themselves being able to make these bad decisions on spending. The EU had an idea of fiscal rules that you needed to implement to be part of the club, and that did help clean up some newly joining economies... but then everyone in the EU already just ignores the rules.