China Relegates Politics in LatAm Spend

As Chinese lenders, corporates, and investors ravage the globe for healthy returns and fresh resources, Chinese officials insist politics are low on the list. “We don’t put much consideration into political issues. Our direction depends on where there are local projects, instead of paying too much attention to policies,” says Zhu Hongjie, vice president of the China Eximbank, which along with the China Development Bank is the main means by which China’s government lends abroad. Zhu sees similar lending opportunities to Africa, though he notes that LatAm’s generally more advanced development would help facilitate projects. Chinese companies have received criticism for their operations in Africa, which are viewed as extracting much but giving little in return to local economies. “Our main purpose is to expand scale, to make a healthy sustained development. Many countries say we are only interested in profits instead of people’s interests. We are not like this. We care about both,” says Chen Zhong, deputy general manager at China Harbor Engineering. He says his firm is active in 10 LatAm countries including Mexico and Brazil, and has just committed to a $70m project in Santiago, Cuba. “We are open-minded with our targets. It depends on the project itself and the returns,” he says. Chen and Zhu spoke at the LatinFinance Latin America China Investors Forum this week in Beijing.