BEIJING, China – Between 2000 and 2014, more than 4,400 Chinese development projects were implemented in 138 countries around the world, making China one of the most important sources of economic infrastructure financing on several continents, but especially to some of the poorest countries.

The report from the College of William and Mary (USA) research laboratory, AidData , provided data on Chinese investments that prove this trend of funding in developing countries.

The three main goals of China’s economic expansion are to ensure the supply of raw materials, create markets for Chinese goods and services and allow the flow of technology to the Chinese economy, according to Chinese affairs expert Georgy Kocheshov. He believes that the Asian country adopts different strategies when investing in developing countries or in developed countries.

The Chinese purpose is to ensure control over sources of raw materials and ensure their supplies, especially in relation to some of the poorest countries such as those on the African continent. This also implies the purchase of existing facilities or the construction of new facilities and infrastructures to generate the growth of the economies of these countries as China’s trading partners.

“This is done not only to ensure the supply of raw materials from these countries to China but also so that they can play an increasingly important role as a market for Chinese goods and services,” the expert told Vzglyad newspaper.

Beijing also invests in “first world” countries, with the priority of acquiring technology through the purchase of shares in relevant companies, as well as acquisitions to increase economic influence and trade ties in general.

The new Silk Road projects clearly indicates that China’s crucial goal is to have control over the world economic system and can challenge the global hegemony of the United States, according to economists.

- Advertisement -

Kocheshkov believes that the new Silk Road is a new designation given to China’s pragmatic economic expansion, which aims to create a unique financial space on a territory that includes all of Eurasia as well as part of Africa and Oceania.

“The Chinese economic influence in several developing regions is at the same level or even the lead of the influence of Western countries,” said the expert.

According to Russian political scientist Dmitry Karasev, Beijing invests in populous countries that will soon become consumers of Chinese products, following the same strategy that Washington had already adopted: using investments to open consumer markets.

In part, China is following a strategy of what some call economic imperialism, but is unlikely to succeed without military imperialism as long as the United States maintains its hegemony.