SHADWICK Research Center · May 2019

The Return of
Chinese Empire

Chinese Debt-Trap Diplomacy

Global Figures

“Economic power becomes geopolitical leverage when debt, infrastructure and strategic assets converge.”

China has planned for decades to extend its global influence through the Belt and Road Initiative. This study examines the financing structures, political control and national consequences behind the model commonly described as debt-trap diplomacy.

Inside the Research

An anatomy of influence.

Selected evidence from the full report. Click any page to inspect it at full size.

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The Global Scale

Where Chinese aid and official finance moved between 2000 and 2014 — revealing the geographic reach behind the Belt and Road proposition.

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Belt and Road Initiative

The land and maritime corridors, their stated objectives and the strategic network connecting China with Asia, Africa and Europe.

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China Always Wins

An examination of the lending model, the control embedded in major infrastructure agreements and the price paid when projects fail.

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The Top Debt Traps

Country-by-country evidence from Venezuela, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.

The Author

Shady Abo El-Fetoh

Author · Chairman & Group Chief Executive Officer

Independent research must look beyond the promise of capital and examine the sovereignty, leverage and long-term national consequences written into every strategic agreement.

Shady Abo El-Fetoh authored The Return of Chinese Empire: Chinese Debt-Trap Diplomacy, published by SHADWICK International Research Center in May 2019. The study analyses the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s model of sovereign lending and the strategic consequences for participating states.

Strategic Warning

Infrastructure is never only infrastructure.

The report explores how finance, construction, ports, railways and energy projects can evolve into instruments of political dependency and strategic control.

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