China's Belt and Road Initiative: Record $213 Billion Global Resource Investment

China dramatically expanded spending under its Belt and Road Initiative in 2025, committing a record $213.5 billion to overseas infrastructure, energy and resource projects as it moved to strengthen its global economic footprint, the Financial Times reported, citing new academic research. The figure marks a three-quarter increase from the previous year and reflects Beijing’s effort to capitalise on geopolitical uncertainty and wavering US influence in parts of the developing world. According to research by Australia’s Griffith University and the Green Finance & Development Center in Shanghai, China signed 350 Belt and Road deals last year, up from 293 contracts worth $122.6 billion in 2024. The expansion was driven primarily by large-scale gas developments, renewable energy projects and mining investments, highlighting a strategic focus on securing long-term access to critical resources and energy supplies. The surge comes against a backdrop of intensifying US-China rivalry over trade and technology, as well as disruptions to global supply chains and energy markets linked to US military interventions. Christoph Nedopil Wang, a China energy and finance expert at Griffith University and author of the study cited by the Financial Times, said Beijing’s Belt and Road spending was likely to grow further, particularly in energy, mining and new technologies. He said volatility in global trade and investment was encouraging China to pursue supply-chain resilience and alternative export markets for its companies. Launched in 2013 shortly after Xi Jinping came to power, the Belt and Road Initiative is the cornerstone of China’s foreign development strategy, designed to deepen economic ties with the developing world through infrastructure finance and investment. It has made China the world’s largest bilateral creditor, with around 150 countries participating. The latest data brings the cumulative value of Belt and Road contracts and investments since its launch to about $1.4 trillion. Much of the growth in 2025 was driven by multibillion-dollar megaprojects that, according to Nedopil Wang, were unprecedented in scale. These included a gas development in the Republic of the Congo led by Southernpec, Nigeria’s Ogidigben Gas Revolution Industrial Park headed by China National Chemical Engineering, and a petrochemical complex in North Kalimantan, Indonesia, developed by a Chinese joint venture. He said developing countries were increasingly willing to trust Chinese firms with projects of this size, reflecting the growing capacity and ambition of China’s state-backed companies. Energy-related investment alone reached $93.9 billion last year, the highest level since the initiative began and more than double the amount recorded in 2024. This included $18 billion in wind, solar and waste-to-energy projects, underlining China’s expanding dominance in clean technology. Metals and mining investment also hit a record $32.6 billion, much of it directed toward overseas minerals processing, as Beijing sought to lock in access to resources such as copper, demand for which has surged due to the growth of data centres supporting artificial intelligence. Analysts say the pattern points to a more strategic use of the Belt and Road. Craig Singleton, senior director of the China programme at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Financial Times that China was increasingly engaging with countries whose resources could help it insulate its supply chains from US pressure. He said Beijing appeared to be drawing lessons from recent US actions in countries such as Venezuela and from threats against Iran, seeking to reduce its vulnerability to external leverage before future crises. The scale and opacity of the Belt and Road Initiative continue to raise concerns among Western governments and analysts. A 2024 report by the US Congressional Research Service warned of unsustainable debt burdens for some participating countries, opaque lending terms, limited reciprocal market access and the strategic risks posed by Chinese investment in critical infrastructure. The report also noted that the initiative has become harder to track, describing it as a broad umbrella under which projects can be loosely or indirectly linked, often financed through complex onshore structures and special-purpose vehicles. Despite these concerns, the Financial Times reported that Beijing shows little sign of slowing its overseas investment drive, instead doubling down on the Belt and Road as a central tool for extending its economic influence and securing the resources it views as vital for long-term growth and self-reliance.