China Development Bank (CDB) makes use of different methods to promote overseas investments in infrastructure projects, expand its global portfolio and support Chinese companies abroad. It provides financing to Chinese firms, stipulates energy-backed loans to foreign authorities and national oil companies and invests in private equity funds. This paper outlines and discusses these schemes. Background China Development Bank is a major financial institution in the People’s Republic of China. It is at the center of Chinese infrastructural development and has financed high-speed railways, roads,...

Last weekend, around midnight on Saturday, on my way home, a hedgehog crossed the road to my house. Juiced up by the joys of springtime it apparently had decided to move from one field to the next, an endeavor to be undertaken in the midst of night which involved crossing a road where daytime traffic was too dangerous. Our little friend had picked a route heading towards a nearby streetlamp, but even so I only recognized it about a second before when it was lit by my car’s headlights. Yet, instead of freezing up, roll into a ball so to have its spines point outward in defense of some imminent danger,...

Ou Yang stayed in Simone’s house a very long time that Sunday. She made very clear her wronged feelings and righteous logic. She cried a few times as she talked about the sacrifice she had made for her little family, as though she had stooped to marrying Ge Wen. Simone didn’t understand how Ou Yang could act so shocked, like she had been the innocent party to which the harm was done. Ou Yang somewhat changed this time. Her voice, though still coarse, became thinner, fragile with gusts of wailing. Her face was puffy from obvious weeping and her eyeliner had become pale black smears down her cheeks....

By its very definition, shadow banking is obscure, shrouded in secrecy, and difficult to discern. It is even harder to define shadow banking in China, where the official system is itself opaque and uncertain, an area where actual procedure is often diverges significantly from the rules. Shadow banking is usually a combination of financial instruments available on markets outside of the traditional banking system, but this does not mean that banks are not involved. They can carry out shadow banking operations, or even act as primary players, even though two principal differences are maintained. Safety...

It is very early to assess the changes introduced by China’s new leadership, but the perception is that the country is preparing for a role of ‘great power’ on the international stage. China’s rise is silent but will not be unnoticed. Perhaps Beijing is not ready to play the role of ‘peacemaker’ in the Middle East; however, its growing economic weight in the region seems to suggest the ‘peace plan’ proposed on 6 May by Xi Jinping might be more than a vague or symbolic gesture. Moreover, Beijing would have offered (24 May) 500-600 soldiers for the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Mali. This is...

LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) – Dagong has been given the green light to operate in the European Union, the Chinese rating agency’s first international push to wrest market share from the “Big Three” that dominate globally. The EU’s European Securities and Markets Authority, which regulates ratings agencies in the 27-nation bloc, said Dagong Europe’s registration would take effect from June 13. Dagong Europe general manager Mauro Alfonso told Reuters the first research would be published by the end of the summer, with the focus on corporate ratings of banks and...