Chinese firms’ low standards and persistent oversupply, buoyed by non-market practices, pose a long-term challenge for governments, the private sector, and civil society alike.
Indonesia has recently become the world’s dominant producer of nickel. The country’s rise in the mining industry and its push into higher-value steps in the nickel supply chain is due in part to capital from one source: China. Chinese companies have joined forces with Indonesian ones to form a nickel powerhouse. However, some practices of these joint Chinese-Indonesian ventures have…
Since China launched its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, Beijing has loaned Central Asian countries over $30 billion to build infrastructure, expand extractive capacity, and support the region’s other development initiatives. Despite all this, Central Asian countries remain less connected to one another and the global economy than countries in other regions, and growing debt burdens have sparked…
As China’s Belt and Road Initiative enters a new era, CIPE examines Beijing’s plans to go smaller, greener, and smarter. The new focus on what Beijing called “integrity-based cooperation” is a tacit acknowledgment of the corruption that plagued the BRI’s first decade. China’s commitment to fund livelihood assistance programs could bring aid directly to the people who need it, and…
Introducing Partner Perspectives, a new kind of content from BRI Monitor. These issue briefs spotlight the work of our hundreds of partners worldwide. Our focus for April is on Colombia, where our partner Colombia Risk Analysis explains the consequences of lobbying activity without sufficient oversight. In upcoming months we’ll mix in more Partner Perspectives to complement our regular Policy Briefs.
Sri Lanka’s 2022 debt default fueled debate over whether China’s Belt and Road Initiative-related loans constitute “debt-trap diplomacy.” In-depth studies by Verité Research indicate that, while the Chinese loans contributed to bad financial management and other serious issues, the root cause of the recipient country’s problems was something different. This new BRI Monitor Policy Brief by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) explains how…