In We Are Funding China’s Growth, Edouard Prisse sounds the alarm about China’s quiet but aggressive expansion—not just across Asia, but into Africa, Latin America, and Europe. This expansion is not military in nature; rather, it is economic, strategic, and intentional. Fueled by the West’s own money—over $600 billion annually from trade surpluses—China is using its enormous financial reserves to buy global influence and reshape the geopolitical map.
According to Prisse, China’s accumulation of foreign exchange reserves since its 2001 accession to the World Trade Organization has provided it with an unprecedented war chest. This money, which originated largely from unbalanced trade with the United States and the European Union, is not sitting idle. It’s being spent strategically to build infrastructure, acquire assets, and entrap foreign governments in cycles of debt.
Africa: Infrastructure as Leverage
In Africa, China has executed a continent-wide strategy of infrastructure lending. While these projects—roads, ports, and railways—are often presented as development assistance, they are laden with risk. Loans are extended to governments that may struggle to repay, and when defaults occur, China seizes strategic assets.
Prisse highlights Sri Lanka as the cautionary tale—though not in Africa, it serves as the model. China provided loans for a massive port project, suppressed concerns about its viability, and when revenues failed to meet expectations, Sri Lanka defaulted. The country was forced to hand over key infrastructure to Beijing.
The same model is evident in African nations, many of which are now heavily indebted to China. The money used for these transactions? Generated through trade with the West.
Latin America: New Frontiers for Influence
Latin America is increasingly falling within Beijing’s scope. Chinese investments in Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela span energy, mining, and agriculture. These investments are not merely commercial—they serve to build diplomatic alliances and push back against American influence in the Western Hemisphere.
Although Latin America is not a primary focus in Prisse’s book, the logic extends seamlessly: a regime that uses economic tools to create dependency in Africa and Asia will do the same wherever opportunity arises. With Washington often distracted or inconsistent in its approach to Latin America, China fills the vacuum with strategic loans, infrastructure projects, and commercial ventures.
Europe: The Trojan Horse of Investment
Perhaps most troubling is China’s growing footprint in Europe. While many Westerners think of Europe as secure and stable, Prisse shows how vulnerable the EU has been to Chinese economic infiltration. China’s investments in European infrastructure and businesses have yielded political influence—especially in countries that are financially vulnerable or politically malleable.
For example, Greece received massive Chinese investments in its port of Piraeus. Not long after, it vetoed EU statements condemning Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and human rights abuses. Hungary followed a similar path, blocking EU efforts to confront China’s authoritarian behavior. These actions weren’t isolated; they were outcomes of a deliberate Chinese strategy.
The Big Picture: A Global Economic Campaign
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is often portrayed as a development project. In reality, as Prisse makes clear, it is a global campaign for influence. China uses money—money made from Western trade—to project power beyond its borders in a way the West has never faced before.
The stakes are clear. If China continues to grow its influence in Africa, Latin America, and Europe through unchecked financial power, Western democracies will find themselves diplomatically constrained and economically dependent.
The response must begin with trade reform. Prisse insists that the U.S. and EU must move from free trade to equal trade—to cut off the flow of enrichment that is fueling Beijing’s global expansion. Only then can we begin to push back against this new form of imperialism—one that is silent, steady, and bought with our own dollars.