Belt and Road Monitor, Edition 12, 2025
This edition of the Belt and Road Monitor covers developments from 1 to 31 December 2025. If you enjoy our Belt and Road coverage, consider checking out Janes IntelTrak, a visual analytics tool that tracks and maps the global activities of Chinese and Russian companies in real time and includes expanded analysis of projects highlighted in "Top Developments." The Monitor draws from transactional data collected daily by our proprietary tool, Janes IntelTrak, as well as research compiled by our team of analysts.
Belt & Road at a glance
Value of all new BRI projects:
USD6.99 Billion
(Estimated)
Russia and Eurasia
the Region with the highest value of new bri projects
Largest New Transaction
USD 2.6 Billion
Railway loan
KYRGYZSTAN, UZBEKISTAN
5
Satellites and Space-Related transactions
Chinese BRI Transactions in USD Billions
Graph notes: These transactions include Chinese loans and grants but also contracts and subcontracts. Not all transactions will come to fruition, and this graphic does not account for cancellations, disruptions, failure to disburse funds, etc. This depicts the announced values of transactions with involving Chinese entities operating overseas, which could include Chinese funded projects but also foreign funded projects involving Chinese contractors, across multiple BRI-linked sectors.
Belt and Road Initiative top developments
WuXi Biologics Expands to Middle East with Qatari Investment
China’s biotechnology giant WuXi Biologics announced on 2 December 2025 that it will establish its first Middle East contract research, development, and manufacturing organisation (CRDMO) in Qatar’s Free Zones Authority. The biopharmaceutical CRDMO will integrate research, development, and manufacturing within a single platform.
CCCC Subsidiary to Develop Smart Port on Malacca Strait
CCCC Dredging Southeast Asia (CDSA) won an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract on 8 December 2025 to develop a smart artificial intelligence (AI) deepwater container port in Port Dickson, Malaysia. Port Dickson is strategically located midway on the Malacca Strait. CDSA will design and construct the port while the port is managed under a joint venture between Tanco Holdings and the Negeri Sembilan government. The contract is valued at USD858 million and is scheduled for completion in 2028.
China-Brazil Space Co-operation Evolves with Joint Space Lab
China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) signed an agreement on 9 December 2025 with Brazil’s Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG) and Federal University of ParaĂba (UFPB) to establish the China–Brazil Joint Laboratory for Radioastronomy Technology. The lab will support the efforts of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from Integrated Neutral Gas Observations (BINGO) telescope China and Brazil are building to conduct research on the structure of the universe.
China Union Secures Argentinian Lithium Project
China Union Holdings, aka Hualian Holdings, executed a USD175 million purchase agreement on 22 December 2025 with Canada-based Lithium Chile to acquire its subsidiary, Argentum Lithium. The deal will result in China Union’s full acquisition of Argentum Lithium and includes an 80% stake in the Arizaro Project in Salta, Argentina. The project consists of six exploration permits at the Salar de Arizaro, the second-largest salt flat in Argentina, to be used in the production of lithium carbonate, a key input for lithium batteries.
CCCC Signs Contract to Complete Kuwait's Mubarak al-Kabeer Port
On 22 December 2025, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Public Works signed a USD4.1 billion EPC contract with China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) to complete the first phase of the Mubarak al-Kabeer port, located on Bubiyan Island off the coast of Kuwait. The first phase of the port is 50% complete but has been stalled for nearly a decade.
New Project Locations by Value
What They're Saying
RYAN C. BERG, Director, Americas Program and Head of the Future of Venezuela Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on China’s response to Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela.
“For a period of time, China may hesitate to offer Latin American governments anything that could be highly strategic in nature, such as security and technology investments. Beyond basing and ports, this reticence could implicate cooperation on space stations or even espionage infrastructure, such as the kind of signals intelligence posts maintained by China in Cuba.”
By the Numbers
