Beijing is encouraging foreign companies to co-invest with Chinese contractors in third countries, a strategy that could help keep manufacturing jobs and investment in China even as its own economic growth slows.
Chinese initiatives to promote rail, power and dam investments in third countries could give a new life to western-backed factories originally designed to supply China’s vast internal market.
The possibility of co-investment offers a foothold for foreign investors in Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road” policy initiative, a programme to promote Chinese investment in trading partners and address the thorny problem of industrial overcapacity at home.