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China is investing in various countries in the world mostly in infrastructure development. Prime examples are,

  1. USD 57 billion in Pakistan,

  2. USD 20 billion in infrastructure development in Bangladesh

  3. 10 massive projects the Chinese are funding in Africa - including railways and a brand-new city

Why don't the West invest in infrastructure-development of poor countries like China does now?

For instance, countries like Canada, Norway, and so on could invest in safer countries (if they feel that there are safety threats in Africa) like India and Bangladesh who need a lot of roads, railways, bridges, airports, and so on. Then they can achieve considerable financial benefits in those countries.

Source of Claim:

  1. https://www.aei.org/china-global-investment-tracker/
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93Pakistan_Economic_Corridor
  3. http://www.atimes.com/article/china-sign-record-us25-billion-loans-bangladesh/

FAQ

Daily reminder that nearly every single railroad in Africa was built by Europeans. – hownowbrowncow

Those were part of establishing colonies and transporting military logistics.

Why do you think Canada or Norway would care to have influence in Bangladesh? – not store bought dirt

You skipped India. Was that on purpose? I don't think Canada and Norway should care to have influence on Bangladesh. I think they can invest their money there to have financial gain. Influence would be a byproduct. Specially, Norway, is a very rich country. And, since, Canada doesn't invest in military so much, they certainly can invest them in 3rd world.

infrastructure is infrastructure. We abandoned the continent because "it was the right thing to do". The Chinese aren't giving these things away for three. They're exploiting poor africans for economic gain. – hownowbrowncow

Suppose, China invests money in Ethiopia to build, modernize, and upgrade their roads, hiways, railways, and other public infrastructures. How can that be comparable to oil and mining companies like BP, Shell, Oxidental, MOBIL, and so on operating in Ethiopia? Give me some example that US or European companies building infrastructures in Ehiopia. Europeans abandoned the continents coz either those countries ran out of natural resources or colonists faced nationalist/freedom movements, or became bankrupt in WW2. Not because that was 'right thing to do'.

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    A source for those claims would be really helpful when answering this question.
    – indigochild
    Jan 20, 2017 at 3:06
  • @indigochild, I have included my source of claim. You should remove your comment.
    – user4514
    Feb 3, 2017 at 7:30
  • I think its mostly that China is willing to give aid to much more shadier actors, with much lower conditions than the west. The West would explore the human rights track record of the government, and would make an effort to see where the money is flowing to.
    – Rohit
    May 7, 2018 at 1:39

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Those investments are usually part of a trade deal, often including rights to extract natural resources from mines or oil/gas fields. There are plenty such projects in African countries. China is developing the infrastructure in those countries to more efficiently exploit the resources in that country and ship them to China.

Note that this is not a bad deal for those countries, at least in the short term. The new infrastructure that the country couldn't afford on its own boosts the economy by the way of increased trade and transport. However, it is often Chinese companies that are brought in to build the roads etc, so a good percentage of the numbers you quote goes right back to China.

Western countries with their free market thinking can't easily go to third world countries and declare: "Give me the rights to your mines and I'll build some roads for you". It just doesn't sound like a Freedom™ thing. So, instead they left this kind of investment to the multinational companies.

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