China’s Role in the Global Development of Critical Resources
This RAND study examined Chinese foreign investment in critical resources and energy infrastructure—coal power in Indonesia, Pakistan, and South Africa; transmission and distribution in several Latin American countries; and global seabed mining—looking for evidence of the behaviors most often alleged: predatory contracting, strategic positioning, disregard for environmental and labor standards, and market-influencing disinformation. The clear-cut cases were fewer than the discourse suggests. China has visibly pulled back from overseas coal financing since Xi's 2021 announcement, and concerns in the Latin American grid cases centered less on bad behavior than on the competitive advantages Chinese state-owned enterprises enjoy through nonmarket access to capital.
Seabed mining is the sharper concern. China's rapid build-out of deep-sea capabilities blurs the line between research, commercial, and military activity, and it has encroached on other contract holders' areas while working to lock in its dominance of minerals processing.