China, the largest creditor on the planet

The most recent x-ray of international financial flows, prepared by the AidData laboratory at William & Mary University (USA), reveals that China is taking on an unprecedented role in the global financial arena. Between 2000 and 2023, Beijing disbursed US$2.2 trillion in official loans and donations, a figure up to four times higher than previous estimates by international organizations.

The study, which made headlines in The New York Timesanalyzed more than 30 thousand projects in 217 countries, financed by 1,193 Chinese public entities, which redraws the cartography of economic dependencies on a global scale. It is a silent revolution, the effects of which are already being felt on all continents.

The West in the center of the board

China’s rise is not restricted to developing countries. Three-quarters of current credit operations support projects in high- and middle-income countries, including G7 powers.

Rich countries alone received US$943 billion. Surprisingly, the United States is the biggest beneficiary: more than US$200 billion has been allocated to almost 2,500 projects, ranging from air terminals in New York to natural gas facilities in Texas, data centers in Virginia and financing for giants such as Amazon, AT&T, Boeing, Disney and Tesla.

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According to Brad Parks, executive director of AidData, “the total size of China’s loan portfolio is two to four times larger than previously known estimates.”

A strategic shift: focus on technology

With the “Made in China 2025” policy, Beijing began to prioritize sensitive and strategic sectors. The portion of the portfolio allocated to areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and renewable energy jumped from 46% to 88%. These investments are considered key to national competitiveness and the country’s economic security.

Who is AidData

AidData is a research center dedicated to the transparency of international financial flows. The “Chasing China: Learning to Play by Beijing’s Global Lending Rules” report is the result of the work of more than 140 analysts, who mined 246,000 sources in dozens of languages.

Each project was documented with multiple official references, forming the most robust panel ever produced on Beijing’s financial diplomacy. In the study, the authors reveal a typical apprehension in the United States regarding Chinese growth on the global financial board: a historic turn that changes the center of gravity of the world economy.