NGA Tearline: Sustainability of China’s Overseas Special Economic Zones

In Partnership with Columbia University

What is NGA Tearline?

NGA is partnering with expert private groups to grow public-facing, authoritative open source intelligence on various strategic and humanitarian intelligence topics that tend to be under-reported within long-form format.

This authoritative open source content will be cited for internal purposes and it will grow public trust by increasing transparency around shared public-private interest in various strategic and humanitarian intelligence topics that are fit for public consumption.

Learn more about NGA Tearline.

The following report was created in collaboration with Columbia University, co-authored by James McKinney, Jacqueline Davalos, Naoki Saito, Vishal Subramanian and Igor Zavyalov.

 

A SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PERSPECTIVE ON CHINA'S SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES


Sustainability of China’s Overseas Special Economic Zones: Introduction

China’s economic diplomacy has encouraged the use of special economic zones (SEZs) abroad. These areas of specialized regulation and incentives are aimed at attracting foreign investment. However, China’s emphasis on SEZs to promote quick economic growth has raised questions about whether China is sacrificing sustainable development for speed.

Sustainability of China’s Overseas Special Economic Zones: Environmental Sustainability

Evaluating the impact of SEZ development on land, water and air using satellite imagery, we identify examples of where zones appear to be succeeding or struggling to preserve and protect their local environmental conditions. Through imagery, we can identify subtle changes in the environment and apparent violations of sustainability principles in some Chinese SEZs, including dumping and landfills. GEOINT is also valuable for mapping local infrastructure around current or future zones to predict the environmental areas of greatest need.

Sustainability of China’s Overseas Special Economic Zones: Social Sustainability

Social sustainability revolves around how the zone treats its workers and the surrounding community. We observed variation in the provision of housing, training facilities and quality of infrastructure supporting workers' commutes. Imagery can provide insight into the level of support a zone provides for its workers, but often leaves unanswered questions. Contextual research about how these facilities are being used is important to providing a balanced assessment.

Sustainability of China’s Overseas Special Economic Zones: Zambia

Despite significant strides in implementing domestic regulation to curb environmental degradation, the Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (ZCCZ) is an example of gaps that exist in China's sustainability practices overseas. This article analyzes the shortcomings China has yet to overcome in upholding its commitment to environmental standards within its SEZ in Zambia’s mining sector.