A new report from AidData shows that, between 2000 and 2023, China loaned $2.2 trillion to over 200 countries—much more than previous estimates. This revelation adds to the mounting fear in the Western business press over a “China shock 2.0.”
In the epoch of imperialism, creditor nations divide the world among themselves and dominate financially dependent debtor nations. Over the last 20 years, China has transformed itself from a net importer of foreign capital into a net exporter.
China’s state banks—now the largest in the world—are pushing institutional Western creditors out of their former spheres of influence around the globe. As AidData reports:
In 2023, Beijing outspent Washington on a more than two-to-one basis, and it outspent the World Bank—the single largest multilateral source of aid and credit—by nearly $50 billion.
China’s financing of countries formerly under the thumb of Western imperialism in Asia, Africa, and Latin America has long caused consternation for the American and European ruling classes. Now, the scale of Chinese loans to their own countries is sending a shudder up their spines.
“Ten of the twenty largest destinations for [state-backed] credit from China are high-income countries,” according to the report. The share of lending to “upper-middle income and high-income countries” rose from 12% in 2000 to 76% in 2023. Nearly $1 trillion of overall Chinese lending has gone into about 10,000 projects in these countries.
China has now reached directly into the central nervous system of world imperialism. The US is now the largest recipient of Chinese loans, taking in a total of $202 billion. This is more than China has lent to either Russia or Venezuela.
These loans bankrolled 2,500 projects across nearly every state, including giant data centers, gas and oil pipelines, and airport terminals. They’ve helped Chinese firms acquire American companies, not only in tech—to bring more advanced technology to China—but also in insurance, agriculture, and real estate. Chinese state banks also extend direct lines of corporate credit for the day-to-day operations of Fortune 500 companies including Amazon, News Corp, GE, and Apple.
The balance of power between capitalist rivals never remains static for long. The imperialist powers carved up the world over a century ago. But as Lenin explained, until the working class puts an end to capitalism once and for all, redivisions are never off the table. The Chinese ruling class is positioning itself for greater control of the world economy. But US imperialism won’t go quietly, and we can expect more shocks as the next imperialist redivision continues to unfold.