Drivers Behind Chinese Development Finance for Energy Worldwide

This chapter argues that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) quest for modernization as manifested in the “two centenary goals” informs what China wants in the twenty-first century. To fulfill their role of the arms of the Chinese state, the country’s twin policy banks—China Development Bank (CDB) and China Export and Import Bank (CHEXIM)—constantly adapt to evolving priorities of the Chinese state by mobilizing finance to underwrite activities to carry out the “two centenary goals” at home while simultaneously striving to secure the country’s access to resources, markets, and technology, and to reduce the country’s foreign exchange exposure abroad. This not only requires the two banks to undertake tremendous operational operation at home and abroad but also obligates them to globalize the country’s official development finance for energy.