China’s shipbuilding capabilities, due to foreign investments, have been enhanced to accommodate a more efficient production of warships, according to Gabe Collins, a former research fellow from the U.S. Naval War College Maritime Studies Institute.
In a report by the Want China Times, Collins states that the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) were able to gain a combined total of $22.6 billion by selling stocks and bonds to domestic and foreign investors from 2004 to 2015.
The amount is approximately 20 percent more than the combined total raised by Huntington Ingalls, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin--three of the world's best defense contractors.
However, Collin admits that it is still not known whether both Chinese companies are receiving direct funding from foreign investors.
Collins says that both CSIC and CSSC do not reveal the identity of initial buyers of their debt issuances or private placements of equity, and that 30 to 33 percent of such shares are not held by the parent company or large domestic investors.
He believes that the stocks and bonds were likely purchased by private investors in China, as well as foreign investors who are qualified to trade in Shanghai.
If foreign investors had a hand in the massive funding, then it would further complicate the issue if American or European investors are involved.
Furthermore, Collins is not ruling out the involvement of investment banks with ties to the U.S., or even the possibility of European and Canadian pension funds being funneled to such big transaction.