# List of countries where China has heavily invested and holds political clout **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-countries-where-china-has-heavily-invested-and-holds-political-clout/854591 "2020-05-28T11:47:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-countries-where-china-has-heavily-invested-and-holds-political-clout/854591/1 "2020-05-28T11:47:40Z")
I was googling the subject but came up with very little. Is there such a list readily available? ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-countries-where-china-has-heavily-invested-and-holds-political-clout/854591/2 "2020-05-28T13:40:19Z")
> **[Belt and Road Initiative](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_Initiative)** > > The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R), known within China as the One Belt One Road (Chinese: 一带一路) or OBOR for short, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in more than 150 countries and international organizations. It is considered a centerpiece of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping's foreign policy. The BRI forms a central component of Xi's "Major Country Diplomacy" (Chinese: 大国外交) strategy, which calls for China to as Xi original... And links therein. It’s not a simple, comprehensive, table. But it’s a start in the direction you’re looking. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-countries-where-china-has-heavily-invested-and-holds-political-clout/854591/3 "2020-05-28T13:58:26Z")
Thanks Ruken. I tried reading through that article but it’s hard to understand in the context of economic or political clout. I was hoping for a simple list somewhat like the Cold War era country affiliations. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-countries-where-china-has-heavily-invested-and-holds-political-clout/854591/4 "2020-05-28T14:19:20Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > I was hoping for a simple list somewhat like the Cold War era country affiliations. I don’t think the world is as simple as it was during the Cold War. There are many more shades of gray. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-countries-where-china-has-heavily-invested-and-holds-political-clout/854591/5 "2020-05-28T14:25:53Z")
Plus it wasn’t that simple even in the Cold War. India, for instance, was officially non-aligned but tended to favor the Soviets (while Pakistan generally favored the West). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-countries-where-china-has-heavily-invested-and-holds-political-clout/854591/6 "2020-05-28T14:28:37Z")
Is there any country that would not be on this list? China has strong economic ties to everywhere, and economic ties always come with some measure of political clout. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-countries-where-china-has-heavily-invested-and-holds-political-clout/854591/7 "2020-05-28T14:33:11Z")
The “Projects” section has a list of construction and investment, but only seven countries under each column. So they’ve put $32B into construction in Pakistan 2014-2018. But that doesn’t tell us about things like building a port for Sri Lanka, then basically seizing it because SL couldn’t pay them back. Vs say a country that isn’t going to have trouble making payments. So I think “clout” is going to be hard to quantify. Trade volume probably factors in too.