Over the last decade, Chinese companies have significantly increased their presence in the Amazon through infrastructure, mining, and energy projects. This growth has been marked by a lack of transparency and accusations of corruption in countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, raising concerns about the resulting environmental, social, and political consequences on the region.
Chinese companies have economically penetrated South America via both direct investments and projects funded by Chinese loans. According to international environmental journalism platform Mongabay, the limited transparency typical of these companies foster conditions environments with little public oversight in the countries where they operate.
Several projects promoted under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have been singled out for corruption, environmental damage, and labor violations.
“One of the negative aspects of the implementation of the BRI in South America is that many of the projects promoted under this Chinese program are located in ecologically sensitive areas, causing deforestation that seriously compromises the environment,” Euclides Tapia, professor of International Relations at the University of Panama, told Diálogo.
In the Amazon, this economic expansion is regularly associated with poor working conditions, displacement of indigenous communities, and significant environmental damage. Uruguayan investigative platform Diálogo Político highlights that Beijing’s lack of effective oversight mechanisms allows these companies to operate without legal or economic consequences, perpetuating their negative impacts on communities and the environment.
Brazil: strategic resources under foreign control
In November 2024, the Chinese state-owned company Nonferrous Trade acquired the Brazilian company Mineração Taboca for $340 million. This company controls Brazil’s largest uranium reserve and owns rights to the Pitinga mine, located in the Amazon, an area rich in strategic minerals such as uranium, tin, and other metals key to technological development, Spanish news agency EFE reported.
Although the company justified the acquisition as a strategy to access new technologies and consolidate its position in the global market, the operation generated controversy. Peruvian newspaper La República reported that several sectors in Brazil are raising concerns about risks to national sovereignty and are even analyzing possible legal actions to prevent the exploitation of strategic resources such as tin in the region.
“The transfer of Brazil’s largest uranium reserve to a foreign company is alarming,” Tapia said. “It is a serious strategic error.” According to Tapia, no country should allow critical resources to be under foreign control without strict supervision by the competent authorities.
“Projects such as the construction of roads or industrial facilities by Chinese companies not only generate lasting negative environmental impacts but also establish a structural relationship of dependency between South America and China, consolidating Chinese influence in the region,” Tapia added.
Bolivia: corruption and the CAMC case
According to Mongabay, in 2016 some circumstances revealed that a bribery network existed between the Chinese construction company CAMC Engineering and the Bolivian government, allowing CAMC to obtain contracts worth more than $570 million in Bolivia for infrastructure projects such as oil platforms, a fertilizer plant, and a dam, financed by the Export-Import Bank of China and the Central Bank of Bolivia.
The case gained notoriety due to its link to Gabriella Zapata, the former partner of then-President Evo Morales. CAMC hired Zapata as a senior executive in their Bolivian subsidiary, although she held no qualifications. What she did have was a document that showed Evo Morales as the father of her child — who existence is disputed — and which she used to influence business and government decisions.
For Tapia, the combination of economic and political interests is reminiscent of Russian strategies, where influential former leaders are integrated into key economic structures to secure strategic links. Although he does not claim that China is following this model, he suggests that it “could adopt similar tactics to consolidate its global influence.”
Colombia: impacts on indigenous communities
Colombia, the Chinese company Emerald Energy, a subsidiary of Sinochem, carried out activities in the El Nogal oil block, located in the Amazon, without first consulting the indigenous communities in the area, as required by Colombian law. According to Spanish daily El País, the project ignored both the environmental and cultural value of the territory.
“China has transferred its predatory practices to Latin America, replicating in the Amazon the same models it applies in its own territory,” said Tapia. “These practices prioritize Chinese strategic and economic interests, sacrificing the ecological and cultural balance of the affected regions.”
Ecuador and Peru: corruption and deforestation
In Ecuador, companies such as Andes Petroleum — a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation — and Sinohydro have been accused of causing deforestation, pollution, and alterations to the natural dynamics of the Amazon rainforest. Ecuadorian newspaper Primicias reported that the Ecuadorian government is claiming more than $580 million from Sinohydro due to construction failures at the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, which is not operating at full capacity.
In Peru, Chinese company CREC 10, which is facing investigations in Thailand for structural failures following the collapse of a building in Bangkok and for labor irregularities, tender collusion, and bribery, has received similar accusations in projects such as the Altiplano Hospital in Puno and the Chamaya-Jaén Road corridor, Argentine news site Infobae reported.
CAMC is also accused of bribery in contracts in the Peruvian electricity sector. In January 2023, Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines signed a $31 million contract with CAMC to install an electricity grid in the department of Amazonas, which drew criticism for the lack of transparency in the awarding process, Mongabay reported.
Region at risk
China’s advance in the Amazon presents a complex dilemma for South American countries. While Chinese investments offer opportunities for economic development, they also pose serious risks to sovereignty, the environment, and the rights of local communities.
According to Tapia, some local actors prioritize personal gain over the national interest, facilitating the advance of the Chinese Communist Party and allowing foreign companies to operate without accountability.
“For these actors, there are no borders, only business. China takes advantage of corrupt officials willing to cede economic sovereignty without considering the consequences for their own countries,” Tapia concluded. “The lack of adequate regulation and effective oversight in the region remains a critical challenge to curbing the negative impacts of these practices.”
