Extending the China water machine: Constructing a dam export industry

Abstract

The world has witnessed a recent increase of Chinese involvement in foreign dam building, frequently interpreting it as a result of implementing the Chinese government’s “going out” policy. However, the Chinese dam industry’s interweaving with its government and external forces remains unclear, blurring the nature of the “Chinese export” of dams overseas. The theory of the Chinese water machine has uncovered the existence of a network of actors interacting on water issues in China, and framed an assemblage approach to interpret the formation, maintenance and operation of this machine. Following the assemblage approach, this paper investigates the emergence and operation of a Chinese dam export industry, which is conceptually the consequence of a network of actors, including members of the Chinese water machine. In so doing, the interaction between the Chinese government, corporations and international forces is examined. Based on fieldwork and open-source data, this paper argues that the Chinese turn to overseas dam building not only follows the Chinese government’s going out and state-owned enterprise reform policies and the self-interest of industrial players for profit, but also reflects a Chinese response to international politics on dams at the turn of the century, which is technically and politically influenced by the activities of international players in and outside China.