China wants unusual returns from foreign investments.

Chinese construction workers in Africa. (businesslive.co.za)

What does the $3.5 billion Mombasa-Nairobi Railway have in common with a $40 million dredging project in Eastern Ukraine? These projects and hundreds of others are funded and constructed exclusively by China and Chinese construction workers as part of an ambitious global project termed the Belt and Road Initiative.

This construction is part of an effort to create a modern-day silk road and develop direct trade access throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. By offering cheap construction of new ports, highways, power plants, and other critical infrastructure to developing countries, China’s economic influence in these regions increases. In fact, these pieces of infrastructure are only partially meant to give easier access to trade with China, that is not all the Chinese are hoping to gain.

Xi Jinping and Alexander Lukashenko have agreed to construct a China-Belarus Industrial Park outside of the capital, Minsk.

Contrary to the practices of many Western states and requirements by the World Bank, China has proven that human rights abuses or corruption will not prevent them from doing business with other countries. China is eager to spread their influence anywhere they can even if the country they are developing cannot realistically pay back their loan. This is by design. If any partner fails to pay back loans, as is expected for at least a dozen nations, China instead will seek leases over critical areas such as ports, as they have done in Sri Lanka.

It must be noted that the locations of newly built seaports, specifically in the Indian Ocean, are not random, they are along one of the world’s busiest international shipping routes. Referred to as the String of Pearls, the long chain of Chinese built ports and naval bases in the Indian Ocean could give China the authority to guard the entirety of this shipping route. They have already opened up their first foreign military installation along this route in Djibouti.

The red dots represent Chinese funded projects. (strategicfront.org)

Foreign investments may also curtail small nations from speaking out on sensitive issues regarding China or make some nations completely economically dependant on them. Panama has already cut ties with Taiwan in accordance with China, no longer recognizing it as a sovereign nation.

China is also currently in disputes over territorial claims in the East and South China Seas with nearly every one of its immediate neighbors. Recently China has begun building artificial islands to call their own, possibly to increase their Exclusive Economic Zone, the 200-mile extension from the coast of a nation in which it has complete jurisdiction. Creating artificial islands does not strengthen China’s legal claim to these territories, however, the installations of military outposts and other infrastructure on these reclaimed islands give China de facto power in these regions.

Almost one-third of global trade goes through the South China Sea. This region is also known for its natural gas and oil reserves and for containing more than 10% of the world’s fisheries. Although these are recognized around the world as international waters, China consistently warns US reconnaissance planes to leave when routinely monitoring Chinese land reclamation. In the past, China has even used military ships to create blockades around islands claimed by other nations in order to take it as their own.

Johnson South Reef. January 2014, left; February 2016, right. (nytimes.com)

While these long-term projects will certainly improve the lives of many people and many economies, the wider goal is suspect. China already has serious issues respecting human rights domestically (e.g. Tibet, Xinjiang) and doesn’t care for international law. It appears that Chinese President Xi Jinping is in it for the long run and foreign investment will only increase in the future, after all, he recently removed presidential term limits and is now set to rule for life.