Sovereign Funds and Financial Statecraft

Sovereign funds are no longer the exclusive luxury of commodity-exporting countries. China, a top natural resource importer, has launched the world’s largest complex of sovereign funds and used them to improve financial security, finance the acquisition of strategic assets in global markets, and construct an international trade and infrastructure network aligned with the Chinese Communist Party’s vision for global governance. The Project on Sovereign Funds and Financial Statecraft examines the financial and political mechanisms through which China established and used its sovereign funds. It informs U.S. policy and business communities how a state without natural resource export revenues can leverage its control of financial and political resources to establish sovereign funds and advance strategic interests. The project explores the relevance of China’s experience to the United States, as well as U.S. allies and partners. For instance, Japan, France, Germany, and Italy have launched their respective sovereign funds to defend against foreign takeovers, support domestic strategic industries, finance industrial policies, and advance national interests. The project will yield a book titled Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions, forthcoming from the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press in June 2023. The project will also generate articles and meetings on sovereign funds and financial statecraft.