The Amazon and the Internationalisation of Chinese Companies

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyse the announced and ongoing foreign direct investment of companies from China in the Amazon region, mainly in Brazil, which covers most of the region, and Peru. We will also to a certain extent include the Amazon region that crosses Colombia and Ecuador. These countries constitute one of the centres of South American integration due to their infrastructure, and the construction of a highway linking Peru and Brazil to the Pacific has been planned. Segments such as mining, petroleum and grains have been the target for the productive internationalisation of Chinese companies. In the analysed countries, the volume of announced and ongoing direct investment of Chinese companies is indeed significant, targeting the above-mentioned natural resource industries. The large infrastructure project announced will be a logistical support for the companies that announced investments in the Amazon, especially between Brazil and Peru. Even though these countries and the other five that share the Amazon rainforest have presented some proposals of co-operation, they have not developed a common approach for the reception of investments from Chinese companies.

Social Changes in the Peruvian Amazon Due to Foreign Influence

“…Activities such as mining, oil and natural gas extraction, and plantation agriculture in Amazonian states-especially Brazil and Peru-have become areas of interest for investment from Chinese state companies. In order to exploit natural wealth, large infrastructural projects like the construction of a highway that would link Brazil to the Pacific Ocean via Peru have been announced [54].…”