Seven dams generate almost half of Cambodia’s electricity. China built and paid for all of them.
Dam
Dam
Kamchay Dam, Cambodia
Port
Port
Port of Hambantota, Sri Lanka
Power
plant
Power
plant
Medupi Power Station, South Africa
Stadium
Stadium
Heroes National Stadium, Zambia
China envisions a vast global network of trade, investment and infrastructure that will reshape financial and geopolitical ties — and bring the rest of the world closer to Beijing.
It is a modern-day version of the Marshall Plan, America’s reconstruction effort after World War II, which created a foundation for enduring military and diplomatic alliances. China’s strategy is bolder, more expensive and far riskier.
Its money doesn’t necessarily come with the usual rules. And the cost, for China and its borrowers alike, can sometimes be too high.
We examined nearly 600 projects that China helped finance in the last decade, through billions of dollars in grants, loans and investments. Taken together, they show the scope and motivation of China’s strategy.
41 pipelines and other oil and gas infrastructure help China secure valuable resources.
203 bridges, roads and railways create new ways for China to move its goods around the world.
199 power plants — for nuclear, natural gas, coal and renewables — give China new markets for its construction and equipment companies.
We found 112 countries where China has financed projects. While most fall under its infrastructure plan known as the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing has pushed beyond those boundaries.
Belt and Road countries
are shaded red.
Europe
Asia
North
America
China
Africa
South
America
Australia
Belt and Road countries
are shaded red.
Europe
Asia
North
America
China
Africa
South
America
Australia
Europe
Asia
North
America
China
Africa
Belt and Road
countries are
shaded red.
South
America
After years of honing its construction skills at home, China is now deploying them abroad, including a series of hydroelectric dams.
Pakistan
Pakistan
Gabon
Uganda
Ghana
Cambodia
Zambia
Sudan
Indonesia
In terms of power output, many of them approach or exceed the size of the Hoover Dam:
Each circle is
a single power project
Colombia
2,400 MW
Under construction
Angola
2,171 MW
Under const.
Nigeria
3,050 MW
Planned
Argentina
1,740MW
Under const.
Laos
1,272 MW
Under const.
Pakistan
1,124 MW
Under const.
Hoover Dam
2,080 megawatts
Ecuador
1,500 MW
Sudan
1,250 MW
Pakistan
969 MW
Each circle is
a single power project
Nigeria
3,050 MW
Planned
Colombia
2,400 MW
Angola
2,171 MW
Hoover Dam
2,080 megawatts
Argentina
1,740MW
Ecuador
1,500 MW
Laos
1,272 MW
Sudan
1,250 MW
Each circle is
a single power project
Nigeria
3,050 MW
Planned
Colombia
2,400 MW
Angola
2,171 MW
Hoover Dam
2,080 megawatts
Ecuador
1,500 MW
Laos
1,272 MW
Argentina
1,740MW
Each bar is a
single power
project.
Laos 1,272 MW
Ecuador 1,500 MW
Argentina 1,740 MW
Hoover Dam 2,080 MW
Angola 2,171 MW
Colombia 2,400 MW
Planned
Nigeria 3,050 megawatts
Geopolitical Goals
China needs friends. And literal bridges can help build figurative ones.
Large ports in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Malaysia — three countries along a major oil and commerce route from the Mideast and Africa — could someday double as naval logistics hubs.
Europe
Area shown on roads map below
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Asia
TURKEY
China
PAKISTAN
INDIA
Africa
SRI LANKA
ETHIOPIA
Light red lines show
ocean shipping activity.
MALAYSIA
Dots show ports
China helped build.
INDIAN OCEAN
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Europe
Area shown below
Asia
TURKEY
China
PAKISTAN
INDIA
Africa
SRI LANKA
ETHIOPIA
Light red lines show
ocean shipping activity.
MALAYSIA
Dots show ports
China helped build.
INDIAN OCEAN
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Europe
Area shown below
Asia
TURKEY
China
PAKISTAN
INDIA
Africa
SRI LANKA
ETHIOPIA
Light red lines show
ocean shipping activity.
MALAYSIA
Dots show ports
China helped build.
INDIAN OCEAN
Shown below
China
PAKISTAN
Dots show ports
China helped build.
SRI LANKA
MALAYSIA
Light red lines show
ocean shipping activity.
Beijing is heavily focused on its neighbors, lending them money for extensive road-building projects. Pakistan is running out of money to repay the loans, part of a broader pattern of what critics call China’s “debt trap” diplomacy.
KAZAKHSTAN
UZBEKISTAN
KYRG.
Lines show Chinese
road projects.
TAJIK.
China
TURKMENISTAN
Kabul
Islamabad
AFGH.
IRAN
Lahore
PAK.
INDIA
Gwadar Port
Karachi
KAZAKHSTAN
UZBEKISTAN
KYRG.
Lines show Chinese
road projects.
TAJIK.
China
TURKMENISTAN
Kabul
Islamabad
AFGH.
IRAN
Lahore
PAK.
INDIA
Gwadar Port
Karachi
Different Standards
China has a different view when it comes to labor and environmental strictures. To staff overseas projects, Chinese companies have flown in their own workers by the thousands, drawing complaints that they are doing little to create local jobs. Safety standards have been uneven.
And Beijing continues to export polluting technologies like coal-fired power plants, even as such projects have become unpopular in China.
Risky Moves
Western governments and multinationals generally steer clear of politically volatile countries. The Chinese government has been less skittish, lending heavily to nations like Venezuela, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
But China’s lending is not usually largess. Countries that run into financial trouble must renegotiate their loans, putting them deeper into debt. Sometimes projects are left in limbo.
Ecuador spent over $1 billion to prepare a site for a $12 billion Chinese refinery that was supposed to be finished in 2013. It’s stalled.
Forest
Land cleared for
construction
QUARTER
MILE
Forest
Land cleared for
construction
QUARTER
MILE
Land cleared for
construction
HALF MILE
Forest
Methodology
This analysis focused on projects valued at over $25 million that were partly or completely funded by a Chinese entity in the last 10 years. Projects that rehabilitate or expand existing infrastructure are included, in addition to new construction projects.
Data sources
In addition to our own reporting, we compiled information on these projects from the following sources:
- The Construction Intelligence Center
- The Inter-American Dialogue’s China-Latin America Finance Database
- The China Africa Research Initiative at the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
- China’s Global Energy Finance, from the Global Economic Governance Initiative at Boston University.
- Reconnecting Asia from the Center for Strategic and International Studies
- China Global Investment Tracker from the American Enterprise Institute
- The Global Chinese Official Finance Dataset from AidData at the College of William and Mary
- International Rivers
Satellite images from Bing and Google Earth. List of One Belt One Road countries from the State Information Center in Beijing. Ocean traffic data from University College London’s Energy Institute and Kiln Digital. Road shapes from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Credits
Additional reporting by Karoline Kan, Ailin Tang and Tiffany May.
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