Chinese Investments in Global Port Infrastructures: The Belt and Road Initiative as Variegated Logistical Fixes

The global focus on infrastructure development has placed the management of material flows at the centre of geopolitics. For China, this has involved large-scale, global port investments as part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which have been premised on an expansion in extra-territorial forms of infrastructural development to bolster global economic integration with strategic geopolitical targets. This article argues for the need to uncover the underlying processes driving Chinese capitalism outwardly to make a balanced assessment of the geopolitical implications of Chinese investments in ports globally. Using the concept of logistical fixes, this article showcases how Chinese investments in global port infrastructure are used to create, correct and direct capital circulation processes to buttress China’s integration model with the global economy and sustain its economic growth model. We highlight the relevance of these variegated relations and motives by examining three Chinese investments into global port infrastructure, respectively the Chancay Multipurpose Port in Peru, the Vietnam International Container Terminal Port in Vietnam and the Valencia Port in Spain. By construing Chinese port investments and the BRI as a variegated process, it is possible to develop a better analytical grasp of the diverse strategies, objectives and spatial dynamics underlying these initiatives. We can thereby move beyond viewing China's BRI as a monolithic expansion strategy and instead analytically foreground the variegated strategic considerations, functional challenges and governance dilemmas that underpin Chinese port investments across regional and global contexts.