Media: China emerges as major lender to US amid global investment push

Chinese financial institutions have lent more than $200 billion to the United States over the past 25 years—more than to any other country—as part of a vast global effort to acquire Western companies working on sensitive technologies, a new research by AidData, a research lab at William & Mary University, revealed.

The study found that between 2000 and 2023, Chinese banks and asset managers backed roughly 2,500 projects across nearly every US state, from gas pipelines to airport terminals. More than half of the lending—$103 billion—has occurred since 2018, The Washington Post reports.

“The irony is rich,” said Bradley Parks, executive director of AidData. “Washington has been warning other countries about debt exposure to China [but] there’s quite a lot of inbound lending from Chinese state-owned creditors to borrowers in the US.”

By analyzing disclosures from 246,000 data sources, researchers revealed that China has provided $2.2 trillion in loans and grants globally since 2000, outspending the US two-to-one in 2023 alone. Much of this financing targets critical infrastructure and high-tech sectors in developed countries, including the US.

Chinese banks have funded state-level projects, such as a high-voltage transmission line from Canada to New York, one of the world’s largest data centers in Northern Virginia, and terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport. They have also extended credit lines to Fortune 500 companies, including Amazon, Tesla, Boeing, and Disney.

AidData noted that tens of billions of dollars were lent to facilitate Chinese acquisitions of US companies in areas such as AI, computer chips, and DNA analysis.

“Chinese overseas investment has been a strategic and blunt tool for advancing domestic industrial capabilities and helping close China’s gap with the technology frontier,” said the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Experts caution that individual loans do not necessarily pose national security risks. However, William Henagan of the Council on Foreign Relations said, “What matters are the assets that Chinese firms have been able to acquire. China’s state-backed acquisitions are another way to conduct systematic theft of intellectual property.”

AidData’s findings also highlight a shift away from lending to lower-income countries, which fell from 88 percent of China’s overseas financing in 2000 to just over 10 percent in 2023, underscoring Beijing’s focus on developed economies.

“Beijing is not seeking to burnish its reputation as a global do-gooder,” said co-author Brooke Escobar. “It is focused on cementing its position as the international creditor of first—and last—resort that no one can afford to alienate or antagonize.”

By Vafa Guliyeva