China is now a major global player in oil, gas, and mineral extraction investments.  In 2009 and 2010, China Development Bank (CDB) extended lines of credit totaling almost $65 billion to energy companies and government entities in Brazil, Ecuador, Russia, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Nearly all of these loans are secured by revenue earned from the sale of oil at market prices to Chinese national oil companies. Drawing on her recently released study (Inside China, Inc.), Erika Downs will discuss how CDB’s energy-backed loans demonstrate the increasingly central role the bank is playing in China’s “going out” strategy, which is facilitating the international expansion of Chinese firms to secure energy and natural resources, build national champions, and acquire advanced technologies.

Drawing on extensive case studies conducted by Friends of Earth, Adina Matisoff will give an assessment of the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation’s environmental and social policies and practices across its global portfolio. She also will discuss environmental and social trends of Chinese mining investments overseas.

Putting the China’s mining investments in a larger context will be Derek Scissors who has built the most extensive web database on Chinese investments overseas (see the Heritage Foundation’s China Global Investment Tracker). He will dig into issues related to Chinese metal mining investments in Australia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Peru, and other countries.