China ramps up Belt and Road spending to record levels in 2025

A soldier stands guard during the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) to mark the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 18, 2023. REUTERS/Edgar Su

China boosted Belt and Road Initiative funding to a record $213.5 billion in 2025, focusing on energy and mining projects across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, aiming to secure resources and expand global influence amid rising US-China tensions.

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China sharply expanded funding for its Belt and Road Initiative in 2025, committing a record $213.5 billion to overseas infrastructure, energy and resource projects as Beijing moved to strengthen its global economic footprint amid weakening US influence and growing geopolitical volatility, the Financial Times reported.

New research by Australia’s Griffith University and Shanghai-based Green Finance & Development Center shows that Belt and Road financing rose by nearly 75 per cent last year, driven by a surge in large-scale energy and mining projects across Africa, Asia and parts of Latin America. Beijing signed 350 investment and construction agreements in 2025, up from 293 deals worth $122.6 billion a year earlier.

The expansion comes as global trade flows are reshaped by intensifying US-China rivalry and renewed instability in energy markets. Analysts say Beijing has accelerated overseas spending to secure access to critical resources, diversify export markets and build supply-chain resilience at a time when trade restrictions and geopolitical shocks have become more frequent.

The Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2012 soon after Xi Jinping came to power, remains the centrepiece of China’s overseas development strategy. The programme has helped turn China into the world’s largest bilateral creditor, with about 150 countries now participating. Cumulative BRI investment and construction contracts since inception have reached roughly $1.4 trillion.

Last year’s growth was fuelled by a new wave of multibillion-dollar “megaprojects”, particularly in gas, petrochemicals and renewable energy. Major deals included a gas development in the Republic of the Congo led by a Chinese state-owned energy firm, Nigeria’s Ogidigben Gas Revolution Industrial Park spearheaded by China National Chemical Engineering, and a petrochemical complex in Indonesia’s North Kalimantan province backed by Chinese industrial groups.

According to Christoph Nedopil Wang, a China energy and finance specialist involved in the research, the scale of projects marks a shift in both ambition and trust. Chinese companies, he argues, have grown large and experienced enough to manage projects that would have been out of reach a decade ago, while host governments are increasingly willing to rely on them for complex infrastructure delivery.

Energy investments alone reached $93.9 billion in 2025, the highest annual total since the initiative began and more than double the previous year’s level. This included about $18bn in wind, solar and waste-to-energy projects, underscoring China’s growing dominance in clean-energy technologies and its push to export that capacity abroad.

Metals and mining investments also hit a record $32.6 billion, much of it directed at processing facilities rather than raw extraction. Copper attracted particular attention in the second half of the year, as global supplies tightened amid rising demand from data centres and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Craig Singleton, a China specialist at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the pattern reflects Beijing’s focus on countries whose resources can help insulate China from external pressure. Overseas engagement, he noted, is increasingly tied to strategic sectors that support technological self-reliance and long-term supply security, especially as tensions with Washington persist under US President Donald Trump.

At the same time, the scale and opacity of Belt and Road financing continue to raise concerns among western policymakers. A 2024 report by the US Congressional Research Service warned of mounting debt risks for recipient countries, limited transparency in loan terms and the strategic implications of Chinese investment in ports, energy assets and transport infrastructure.

The report also noted that tracking Belt and Road activity has become more difficult, as projects are often loosely labelled under the initiative and financed through complex structures involving onshore banks and special-purpose vehicles.

Despite those concerns, researchers expect Beijing’s overseas investment drive to continue in 2026, particularly in energy, mining and technology-linked infrastructure, as China seeks to anchor its economic influence in a more fragmented global order.