China’s economy and its global influence are growing at a rapid rate. Nowhere is that growing influence clearer than in Ecuador, a country that Beijing has lent nearly $9 billion and has promised $7 billion more in financing. Those loans and promises add up to nearly one fifth of Ecuador’s GDP, allowing – and in some cases forcing – the nation to advance new infrastructure and energy projects including massive oil, mining, and hydropower projects in the Amazon.
This report aims to serve as an analysis of China’s growing presence in Ecuador, to help shed light on Chinese projects and loans in Ecuador with attention to the Amazon region, and to offer insight into the significance of Chinese geopolitical power in the region and its implications for the future of the Amazon rainforest and its people.