“We need to understand China better.” This straightforward observation is of critical importance. It was made by an African development policy researcher at an event in Nairobi, but we have heard the sentiment echoed across the Global South, from Latin America to Southeast Asia to Africa.
To move us towards a better understanding, Dialogue Earth and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (RWI) present this three-part course on “Global China” and just transitions. We hope the foundation of knowledge it offers can help you to develop more impactful policies, policy recommendations and research regarding Global China and just transitions in your specific context.
Over the past two decades, China’s presence and impact have become ever more evident around the world, particularly in the so-called Global South. Whether in the form of commodities trade, the ubiquity of Chinese-made products or the emergence of Chinese investors and infrastructure companies, the country has rapidly become a major actor in these countries and regions.
China’s role here is multifaceted. Chinese companies have been involved in projects with large environmental and carbon footprints. But they have also opened up new opportunities for energy transitions as their technology has drastically lowered the costs of solar panels and batteries, and are now seeking new markets. Additionally, Chinese construction firms and finance are often behind some of the most ambitious connectivity projects across the Global South, such as roads, railways and bridges.
Many Chinese companies have a bad reputation when it comes to community engagement and consent. Others, however, are helping to develop mechanisms for such engagement, developing smaller-scale projects and being asked to align with better practices.
The media and political discourse in many parts of the world too often oversimplify the nuanced phenomenon of what is commonly termed “Global China”.
This is problematic. Any attempt to effectively engage with Chinese stakeholders to bring about better development and environmental outcomes must understand the complexity of those stakeholders. We must ask questions such as: Who is investing? Why are they investing? What is their understanding of development, environmental protection, good governance and transparency? What policy frameworks and ideas guide their operations?
Answering these questions is difficult but critical. The three modules of this course aim to establish a foundation of knowledge and new lenses to help answer them, whilst acknowledging that the answers will be different in every national and regional context.
The content of the modules utilises and builds on discussions that Dialogue Earth and RWI held with local partners in Chile, Thailand, Kenya and Sweden during 2024 and 2025. Summaries of those meetings (linked to above) make for good accompanying reading to the modules.
The three-module curriculum:
1. What is Global China?
Addressing some of the knowledge gaps that surround this important phenomenon, with the aim of building a more nuanced understanding of the multiple actors involved.
2. The history of China’s environmental journey
An exploration of China’s own experiences with environmental pollution and governance, and how this is shaping China’s overseas investments.
3. Just transitions
Investigating how the right to a healthy environment matters for the Global South’s encounters with China.
These modules build on each other and are best studied in order. They contain an unpacking of key areas of complexity and misunderstanding – of Global China, environmental protection and human rights – as identified in the four aforementioned meetings.
The course concludes with a series of questions, which we hope can guide further detailed enquiry into Global China in your specific contexts.
We hope these materials will be of use to you. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or comments.
