China's geoeconomic strategy: access: China’s resource foreign policy

China’s search for resource security has come under close international scrutiny in recent years. This is partly because of the economic impact on other countries – most notably changes in the price and availability of some key resources. But there are also important political dimensions to these debates. For example, supporters of a liberal global order are concerned that China is undermining attempts to pressure authoritarian states to reform. If such states don’t like the conditions that accompany aid and economic relations with the West (or more correctly, some in the West), then -if they have things that the Chinese wantthey can deal with them instead. They might insist that you don’t have political relations with Taiwan, and want guarantees that their investments are safe, but they won’t pressure you to liberalise your political or economic systems. And as an added bonus, the repayment terms of Chinese development loans are often cheaper than those offered by places like the World Bank.