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Chinese Investments in European Countries: Experiences and Lessons for the “Belt and Road” Initiative

The internationalization of China, and of its companies in particular, is one of the most important phenomena of the beginning of the twenty-first century.

by Philippe Le Corre
published by
Palgrave Macmillan
 on November 27, 2017

Source: Palgrave Macmillan

This chapter focuses on Chinese foreign direct investments (FDI) in Europe, and their potential impact on the landscape of the targeted countries. It examines the investment’s possible connections with the current Belt and Road Initiative (BR), which is primarily billed as an international network of infrastructure projects. With the BR in mind, this chapter asks whether Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE) can build from their recent experiences in Western Europe, and looks at three main questions: (1) What is the political, economic, and social impact on targeted countries when it comes to public investments in the field of infrastructures? (2) How does it relate to the Belt and Road Initiative? (3) What are the stakes for the cooperation between Chinese investors on the one hand, and local public- and private-sector actors on the other?

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This chapter was originally published in Rethinking the Silk Road, released by Palgrave Macmillan.

EconomyForeign PolicyEast AsiaChinaWestern Europe
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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