Chinese Overseas Investment

Since the mid-2000s, China's outbound investment has increased significantly. In 2016, China became the world's second largest source of overseas direct investment (ODI). With the launch of the…

This report aims to provide an overview of some of the issues involved related to Chinese overseas investment and the consequences for recipient countries, the people and the environment. It is…

The recent China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment appears to prioritise labour and sustainability issues. But without thinking about environmental action beyond emissions and enacting…

While initial plans for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) predate those of OBOR it has been given renewed impetus under it and has come to be described as a flagship OBOR project.…

Following the launch of its “going global” strategy from 1999, the Chinese government has promoted Chinese companies going out and investing overseas.

Since China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) development strategy was first proposed in late 2013, it has increasingly attracted world attention as more and more countries have signed various cooperation agreements with China related to the project[1]. Described as ‘globalisation 2.0’, the initiative which seeks to develop cooperation, trade and infrastructure networks between Asia, Africa and Europe through the creation of a Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road, has the potential to significantly impact on the global economy while further expanding China’s political and economic interests internationally. 

Currently, the prospects of China’s ‘One Belt One Road Initiative’ (hereinafter referred to as OBOR) are dim. An article published in the Financial Times in July this year pointed out that 234 out of 1,674 Chinese-invested infrastructure projects announced in 66 Belt and Road countries since 2013 have encountered difficulties.The most recent and striking problem occurred in Malaysia——newly elected prime minister Mahathir Mohamad canceled the US$20 billion East Coast Rail Link project right after his official visit to Beijing.

In April 2017, the first part of the Baha Mar, a 1,000 acre luxury mega-resort in the Bahamas that will eventually consist of several hotels, a 100,000 square foot casino, a golf course, spas, shops and restaurants, constructed by China Construction America, finally opened. The event was marked by a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by then Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Perry Christie, who labelled the opening, “the most significant economic development event ever to occur in a single phase within the Bahamas and the Caribbean”[1].

Recently the ill-fated Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (the HZMB) has been back in the news again. This time the reason was due to yet another budget overrun of HK$11.7 billion for which Hong Kong will need to pay a share of HK$2.36 billion. Hong Kong’s Legislative Council has previously allocated HK$110 billion to the bridge. In fact, since the bridge was first proposed, its financing and budget have been revised and obscured so many times that exact total costs remain unclear, suffice to say that it is significantly more than was originally outlined. Nevertheless, as part of a grand plan by China, the bridge, which at a length of 49.97km will be the world’s longest sea bridge upon its completion, can also in some ways be seen as symbolic of the position that Hong Kong has been placed in concerning China’s development, and not least its strategies to ‘go global’ and expand overseas as well as the failures and limits to this more generally.

As China seeks to expand its influence and investments overseas, Venezuela represents another cautionary tale that highlights some of the limits and problems of these expansion plans. Over the last ten years, Venezuela has received loans from China on an unprecedented scale as well as other significant investments.