Tensions between China and the United States continue to make headlines on a frequent basis, and we can continue to expect this mounting tension to continue. On the economic front, the ongoing US-China Trade War is an oft cited consequence of this tension. Through this dashboard, we hope to shed light into another economic frontier of China’s continued growth – their foreign investments to other countries, around the world.
China’s success in establishing itself as a global superpower is contingent on the volume of its foreign direct investment. Beyond being one way that China might continue to gain influence, foreign investments are one key way for China to garner more strategic resources, which will increase its economic competitiveness. This causes tension with the United States.
Claims on the volume of foreign investments by China, are best mapped out with data.
In this dashboard, we visualize China’s growth in outward-oriented foreign investments. We do this at the level of the entire world, and also at the level of a single continent, Africa, where Chinese Investments have been on the rise over the years; it is one key part of the world where experts expect US-China competition to intensify.
We hope that by doing so, we are able to map out the contours of Chinese investment activity, which will be useful for observers of China and of US-China relations.
Please explore each tabs to find out more:
World Map - Where is China investing in?
Yearly Investments by Categories - What is China investing in?
Rising Outflows - Is China really investing more than the US?
Next Frontier: Africa - What do we know about how China is investing in Africa?
Where is China investing in?
This segment displays a world map of the location of China’s investments over the years, overall, and by industry, from 2005 to 2020.
As visible from the coloration on the map (i.e., darker colors refer to a greater value of investment in a country), China is involved in investments across the entire world. It appears to have invested most heavily in the USA, the UK, Indonesia and Australia by raw total amount (in US dollars), but it also has a growing amount of investments in Russia as well as other countries in Europe, Africa, the Americas, Central Asia and Southeast Asia.
Please explore different industries, hover over each country for more information on the name of the country, and the amount that China has invested in the country (in USD).
As this is quite an information-rich visualization, a Data Table is appended below for further exploration.