China’s global spending spree
Summary
This episode uncovers how Chinese state banks have driven a global investment surge, not just in developing countries via the Belt and Road, but also significantly in wealthy Western nations. Exclusive data reveals these often-legal, yet sometimes opaque, acquisitions target sensitive industries like intelligence services, robotics, and advanced technology. The increasing trend, exemplified by cases like the US intelligence insurer Wright USA, British robotics firm SMD, and Dutch semiconductor company Nexperia, has sparked alarm in the West, leading to tightened foreign investment laws and a geopolitical tug-of-war for technological dominance, with varying perspectives on the benefits and risks of such interdependence.Episode description
China has been on a giant global shopping spree. Since 2000, Chinese state banks have fuelled investments and acquisitions at a surprisingly rate - some four times what was previously thought. Brand new data, shared exclusively with the BBC, reveals that many of Beijing’s state-backed spending has targeted rich countries. Such deals are strictly legal, though not always easy to trace. Observers in the United States, Europe and elsewhere are alarmed at the potential for Beijing to dominate key technologies and turbo charge its technological might. Celia Hatton investigates the sometimes murky ways in which Chinese state money can be traced to sensitive industrial sectors. But she also discovers that shutting out Chinese influence is not easy or desirable.