Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the political conditions under which China’s overseas infrastructure projects benefit or adversely affect host country development by looking at China’s past infrastructure initiatives both at home and abroad.

Paper long abstract:

China is intensifying its effort to export infrastructure projects through new development banks (including the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Silk Road Fund, the New Development Bank of BRICS), global platforms (the G20 global infrastructure initiative and UN Financing for Development) and bilateral initiatives. China serves as an alternative source of financing and development model, having competitiveness in fast decision-making, easy financing and speedy implementation. While this effort is branded by Beijing as an engine of joint development and welcomed by many countries and international organisations for filling the infrastructure gap, most of the current media and scholarly discussions are focused on their strategic implications for Western countries and for traditional organisations. The political conditions under which China's overseas infrastructure projects benefit or adversely affect host country development are understudied. After all, infrastructure has not only facilitated growth and development in China, but also created social, political and economic problems. Economic growth stimulated by infrastructure investment does not automatically translate into sustainable development. By looking at China's past infrastructure projects both at home and abroad, this paper highlights several decisive political conditions for their developmental impact: first, the rationality and power relations in decision-making; second, institutions for governing safeguards; third, the composition of participating actors that determine income distribution.