{"id":60116757,"date":"2026-01-20T17:49:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T17:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?p=60116757"},"modified":"2026-01-20T17:49:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T17:49:43","slug":"how-the-global-south-can-deepen-the-benefits-of-chinese-clean-tech-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/how-the-global-south-can-deepen-the-benefits-of-chinese-clean-tech-investment\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Global South can deepen the benefits of Chinese clean-tech investment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In late 2024, some of the largest Chinese-owned solar factories in Vietnam paused production. They were responding to preliminary rulings by the US on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trade.gov\/preliminary-determinations-antidumping-duty-duty-investigations-crystalline-photovoltaic-cells\">anti-dumping<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trade.gov\/commerce-preliminary-countervailing-duty-investigation-crystalline-photovoltaic-cells-cambodia\">countervailing<\/a> duties. The&nbsp;pause&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/energy\/chinese-solar-firms-ever-nimble-go-further-afield-where-us-tariffs-dont-reach-2024-11-03\/\">exposed<\/a> the risk of countries relying too heavily on foreign investment in factory operations alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What had been missing was technology transfer. In other words, foreign firms sharing knowledge and technical capabilities with local firms and workers, enabling them to use and eventually develop technologies themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also limited was the connected provision of value addition, meaning&nbsp;the creation of solid local jobs and industries, and movement up the value chain from product assembly or raw material export.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The situation could have alarmed any country looking to capitalise on China\u2019s growing overseas clean-tech investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no doubting the importance of the huge and growing investment by Chinese companies in overseas solar, electric vehicles, batteries, wind and green hydrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It already presents one of the largest private \u201cclimate finance\u201d cash flows into the Global South. Such finance will be key to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, which require USD 1.3 trillion in annual climate finance by 2035, as laid out in the recent <a href=\"https:\/\/unfccc.int\/sites\/default\/files\/resource\/Relatorio_Roadmap_COP29_COP30_EN_final.pdf\">Baku to Bel\u00e9m roadmap<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this context, Global South countries need to be strategic in translating private finance, which is driven primarily by the profit motive, into real technology transfer and value addition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If successful, countries partnering with Chinese enterprises can establish clean tech as major pillars of their own economies, setting them up for their own just transitions. The alternative is that when investment ends, governments have little to show for it, and little longlasting effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-vietnam-case\">The Vietnam case<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Southeast Asia was the major early destination of China&#8217;s overseas manufacturing overall. And before the preliminary duty rulings, Vietnam was the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/rhg.com\/research\/chinas-manufacturing-fdi-in-asean-grew-rapidly-but-faces-tariff-headwinds\/\">top overseas destination<\/a>&nbsp;for China\u2019s investment in solar manufacturing. But as Chinese companies paused solar assembly lines <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/climate-energy\/chinas-longi-says-some-southeast-asia-plants-reported-closed-by-media-are-still-2024-06-07\/\">in 2024<\/a>, it revealed how little had been transferred to their Vietnamese counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-article-image aligncenter block--article-image block--article-image--article\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--article-image__column\"><div class=\"hide-expand block--article-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trina-Solar-Vietnam_Alamy_HGAKNJ.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trina-Solar-Vietnam_Alamy_HGAKNJ-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trina-Solar-Vietnam_Alamy_HGAKNJ-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trina-Solar-Vietnam_Alamy_HGAKNJ.jpg 2560w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 1024px) 1024px, 2560px\" alt=\"worker in factory hallway\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--article-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--article-image__caption\">A solar cell plant in Bac Giang province, Vietnam, belonging to Chinese-company Trina Solar, photographed in 2017 (Le Yanna \/ Xinhua \/ Alamy)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trina-Solar-Vietnam_Alamy_HGAKNJ.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"3 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1707\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2560\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, there are few Vietnamese companies in the solar manufacturing value chain.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/vietnambiz.vn\/thi-truong-san-xuat-pin-mat-troi-tai-viet-nam-chu-yeu-la-doanh-nghiep-my-va-trung-quoc-duy-nhat-mot-cong-ty-noi-dia-202392995541221.htm\">IREX<\/a>&nbsp;is the only Vietnamese-owned panel manufacturer. Roughly 90%&nbsp;of all equipment for renewable energy projects is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rmit.edu.vn\/news\/all-news\/2025\/may\/vietnam-solar-strategy-for-trade-tense-times#:~:text=The%20China%20dependency%20dilemma,a%20reliance%20on%20Chinese%20manufacturers.\">imported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The government is working to improve the situation, notably through a new&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/vietanlaw.com\/decree-225-2025-nd-cp-amending-investor-selection-rules-in-vietnam\/\">decree<\/a>&nbsp;offering a bid bonus to foreign investors who commit to technology transfer, directly influencing the allocation of prime land-use rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>China\u2019s overseas clean-tech manufacturing investment is massive \u2013 a projected USD 227-250 billion across 461 projects since 2011. This is according to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.netzeropolicylab.com\/china-green-leap\">a <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.netzeropolicylab.com\/china-green-leap\">report<\/a> I wrote last year with Mathias Larsen for Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab. And it is just getting started. Roughly 88% of this capital came after 2022, our report showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such investment is rewiring clean-tech supply chains in the Global South. Though solar was the main sector to see Chinese overseas investment, the footprint is expanding to include wind, batteries, EVs and green hydrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The regional footprint is also expanding. Chinese clean-tech companies had focused on Southeast Asia early on, but new ventures in the Middle East, Africa and South America are expanding rapidly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For recipient countries, the appeal is likely more economic than environmental. Clean-tech investment provides an opportunity to make economies competitive during the global transition to clean energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, at China\u2019s Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit last September, recipient countries emphasised technology transfer and \u201cexperience exchange\u201d in their announcements of new clean-tech agreements more than their Chinese counterparts did in their statements, according to a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/roundtable-how-has-the-sco-summit-impacted-the-global-energy-landscape\/\">review<\/a> by Li Yuxiao of Greenpeace East Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that light, Vietnam\u2019s experience offers what to many governments in the Global South could be an alarming tableau. After over a decade of intensive investment and booming manufacturing, the recipient country had secured little long-term development within its solar industry.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-new-trend-and-opportunity\">The new trend and opportunity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Globally, the current trends in Chinese overseas clean-tech investment slant away from bricks-and-mortar developments and towards lighter-asset models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These include licensing, where companies sell technological \u201crecipes\u201d to local partners, as seen in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/ford-invest-35-billion-build-michigan-battery-plant-2023-02-13\/\">Ford\u2019s use of CATL\u2019s battery chemistry<\/a> in Michigan. Another is contract manufacturing, where a company engages a third-party factory to build its products. The <a href=\"https:\/\/astana.group\/en\/news\/367\/\">Astana Motors plant<\/a> in Kazakhstan, which assembles cars for multiple Chinese rivals, is a good example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is difficult to foresee when this trend may change because it stems in part from geopolitical trends and stricter rules-of-origin laws. Such laws are used to determine a product&#8217;s economic nationality and ensure it qualifies for tariff exemptions or local contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the risks of outsourcing capacity without physical roots in the recipient country can also provide openings for such countries. They can leverage the situation by demanding more collaboration-friendly deal structures with more room to hardwire local upgrades.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asset-light models can open the door to partnerships with local co-manufacturing, supplier-upgrade funds and joint design labs. For example, the localised manufacautring <a href=\"https:\/\/jasolar.africa\/news-press\/ja-solar-collaborates-with-artsolar\">deal<\/a>&nbsp;between Chinese company JA Solar and South African company ARTsolar includes a published plan to train local employees and partner with local institutions to advance workforce development. The aim is to grow manufacturing capacity along with output, offering a more promising potential for host countries to advance their energy transitions compared to the Vietnamese example.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, it is still important to understand why Chinese firms do build factories overseas. The main reason, as noted in the Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab report, is access; to the market of the host country, to the markets of other countries, or to raw materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When a Chinese firm builds overseas factories mainly to export to third-country markets, there is a higher risk that local industries will not benefit much. As investment into these export hubs grows, this makes it more important for governments to put clear policies in place to ensure real local industrial development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bottom line for how to turn capital investment into transformational gains lies in a few best practices. Chinese firms and host governments should co-sign strict, practical standards that tie market access to incentives for measurable upgrading of local capacity, strengthening local supply chains, skills, transparency and resource reuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Upstream manufacturing should be linked with downstream clean-tech deployment, in order to amplify system-wide impacts on the energy transition. If policymakers embrace these fundamentals, host countries can better turn Chinese investments into durable capacity upgrades and achieve faster, more just transitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many ways, 2025 proved to be a pivotal year for China\u2019s clean-tech investment overseas. But for host countries, it is important to see investments not just increasing, but also impacting their markets more deeply.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They must tie investment to strict standards that build local skills and suppliers, writes Xue Xiaokang<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50000905,"featured_media":60116772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[757],"tags":[50042156,585,597],"hashtags":[],"country":[],"class_list":["post-60116757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-overseas-investment","tag-renewables","tag-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How the Global South can deepen the benefits of Chinese 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