COMMENT In 2003, partly in response to a global controversy over the environmental destruction caused by China’s Three Gorges dam, ABN Amro and Barclays helped to found the Equator Principles, a code of conduct for lenders to infrastructure projects in developing countries. Now, in its determination to win a takeover battle for ABN, Barclays has invited the state-owned Chinese bank that funded Three Gorges to become its largest shareholder. This is just one of the controversies that will arise if the Chinese state keeps buying large stakes in foreign companies.
The China Development Bank could invest as much as €9.8bn in Barclays if the ABN deal goes ahead. The CDB finances the top priorities of the Chinese government: in addition to dams, nuclear power plants and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it has just launched a $5bn fund to support Chinese companies investing in Africa.
