Chinese rise and chinese direct investments in brazil: The case of the transport infrastructure sector

Abstract

In recent years, China has gained global relevance, mainly due to its participation in international trade, given its weight in the export basket of the most varied countries around the world. Its gravitational effect and long-term strategies allowed both the arrival of foreign capital in China in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, as well as Chinese Direct Investments from the 2000s onwards, to be under the “umbrella” of Chinese strategy. The article aims to observe Chinese Direct Investments in Brazil in the transport infrastructure sector, where it was possible to verify that even though it is eleven times smaller than in the energy sector, it tends to gain space, since investments in use values ​​are at the center of its long-term strategies. Firstly, there is a return on invested capital and secondly, greater railway and road efficiency facilitates the flow of the main products on the export list to the Asian giant. However, within the logic of investments, it is necessary for Brazil to have clear strategies that aim to use the interests of China itself, which enables a less aggressive and without compensation development for peripheral countries than in relation to countries at the dynamic center of capitalism.