How did China influence US and European politics through lending?
A major research report from the AidData Lab at the College of William & Mary in Virginia paints a different picture of China’s lending patterns and challenges many of the old beliefs about how the country allocates its financial resources.
The study, which analyzed 24 years of data, found that the United States is the world’s largest recipient of loans from China, completely contradicting the popular perception that China is focused on developing countries.
According to the data, China’s total foreign loans between 2000 and 2023 reached an impressive $2.2 trillion. The team of 130 researchers at the institute analyzed more than 30,000 loan projects in 217 countries and found that the United States is the top recipient of loans from China with $202 billion. Russia is next with $172 billion, Australia with $130 billion, and Venezuela with $106 billion.
These findings suggest that China’s strategic view of lending is much broader than previously suggested, with its focus on low-income countries. Contrary to the popular perception of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as largely a program to support infrastructure in developing countries, it is now clear that more than three-quarters of China’s lending is to rich countries, with clearly political, security and technological objectives.