The logic of local government’s action is an important factor of local debt governance. Based on the perspective of text analysis, this article focuses on the core ideas and dual goals of preventing risks and stabilizing growth for the first time to study the logic of debt governance by observing “words” and “action”. The research results show that: (1) Generally speaking, local governments often respond to rising debt risks with emphasizing prevention of debt risks. From its action, the logic of local government borrowing behavior focuses more on stabilizing growth. (2) Provincial governments emphasize the balance of risk prevention and growth promotion, while municipal governments focus on the latter, especially on action. (3) Risk prevention and stable growth are basically balanced in the eastern region. Debt governance in the central and western regions has a tendency to stabilize growth, but less attention on preventing debt risk. The above conclusions provide important enlightenment for understanding action logic of local government, and improving governance of local debt to achieve longer-term balance between stable growth and risk prevention.