🌅 How China’s Buying Influence Abroad

SOURCE

Council on Foreign Relations

WHAT TO KNOW

• China is expected to spend as much as $8 trillion on foreign infrastructure through its decade-old Belt and Road Initiative, embarking on what the Council on Foreign Relations describes as “one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever conceived.” As of 2023, at least 147 countries—representing a staggering two-thirds of the world’s population and 40% of global GDP—have signed onto projects or indicated an interest in doing so, greatly expanding Beijing’s economic and political influence.

WHY IT MATTERS

• In his 2021 book, The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order, author and Chinese foreign policy expert Rush Doshi highlights Beijing’s plans to dominate the 21st century, including its goal of displacing U.S. hegemony and becoming the world’s leading international influence by 2049 (the centennial of the founding of the People’s Republic of China). To accomplish its goal, Doshi found China plans to leverage the disruptive changes Western governments have experienced since 2016, including the election of Donald Trump, Brexit, and the COVID pandemic.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• While China invests in international influence and diplomacy, the U.S. has pulled back under Donald Trump and his “America First” agenda. A new analysis by the Pew Research Center aligns with that reality, finding the share of respondents across 10 peer countries who have a favorable opinion of the U.S. has fallen from 63% in 2021 to 35% today, while the share with a favorable opinion of China has risen from 24% to 32% over the same period.