SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This chapter aims to assess what drives and empowers the Chinese stakeholders engaged in large hydropower projects in Asia and Africa, and contributes to the theoretical development of the political ecology of rising China framework. Using empirical data from four case studies in Asia and Africa, the chapter triangulates information on the Chinese hydropower industry, the motives of these actors, processes of decision-making in implementation and mitigation phase and their power relations in conjunction with each other. The case studies include Kamchay Dam in Cambodia, Bakun Dam in Malaysia, Bui Dam in Ghana and Zamfara Dam in Nigeria. In a Chinese overseas hydropower project cycle, there are numerous actors involved, and they have varying amounts of power vis-à-vis actors within this industry and beyond. In the Chinese hydropower sector, the procedure from negotiation to completion of a mega dam project could at times be the best locale to investigate the fluid power relations between the different actors.