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Dig the Well before You Are Thirsty: China's Long-Term Resource Strategy

China’s global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), appears to altruistically bring investment and economic opportunities to lowincome countries across the world. Indeed, accessing markets for Chinese goods, promoting use of the renminbi, and improving transportation for trade routes are among China’s many economic motivations for this global effort.1 Yet the BRI also aims to shore up resources for China in the long term. When China’s president Xi Jinping announced the BRI, he stated, “We have put forward a strategic task of the construction of ecological civilization and the building of a more beautiful China with blue sky, green space, and clean water for future generations.”2 Xi proclaimed that the BRI will provide cleaner air, soil, and water for the future generations in China, but markedly not in Central Asia, Africa, or Europe—the loci for the BRI. Despite these sweeping ambitions, there has been insufficient international attention on the BRI’s potential impact on environmental resources. While the BRI is important for short-term investments, it poses a threat to environmental protection and sovereignty in low-income countries, and to the climate globally, in exchange for China’s own future resource security and economic growth. For many low-income countries, the BRI offers an opportunity to develop quickly and stimulate the local economy. Yet many projects lack transparency for the terms of agreement, leaving room for exploitation of valuable resources. Some countries have been unable to pay back the associated debts, with no option but to cede control to China as in Sri Lanka’s much-discussed Hambantota port. The legacy of the BRI has yet to be determined. However, it is a chance for China to leverage geopolitical influence and weak institutions to subvert environmental standards for economic gain—if not checked by the international community. A failure to provide viable alternatives will likely lead to greater Chinese control of natural resources, which will ultimately threaten the sovereignty and sustainability of participating economies. While these changes will occur gradually, the United States and the international community should support countries’ sustainable development and autonomy today.