The sound of explosions, heavy dust in the air and polluted rivers plague the residents of the Serbian mining town of Bor, where a Chinese company bought the mine in 2018. The cooperation between the EU candidate country Serbia and China has intensified in recent years, but there are both environmental and political risks with the Chinese projects – and growing local opposition
Category: Press
Chinese Contractor’s Offer for Bosnia’s Tuzla 7 Coal Power Plant Rejected
Just Finance International welcomes the July 14th announcement by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBIH) government that it will reject a proposal for an alternative Chinese subcontractor for the proposed Tuzla 7 coal fired power plant, and calls on the Federation of BiH Parliament to choose to ditch the plant’s construction.
Legal Memo on Chinese investments in Serbia Shows Weakened Rule of Law, Leading to Forced Labour and Human Rights Abuses
Ahead of this week’s European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) vote on Serbia, Just Finance International and Serbia’s Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute (RERI) today published a legal analysis detailing how a weakening of law and transparency in Serbia has provided loopholes for large scale infrastructure investments, including from China, leading to reports of forced labour and human rights abuses, along with impacts on human health and the environment.
Mongabay: U.N., rights groups flag potential violations in $3b Indonesian tourism project
By providing core finance for the project, AIIB must take responsibility for its complicity in bankrolling the Mandalika project, where its client and project proponents have been implicated in inflicting human rights violations and fueling land conflicts.
Asia Financial: China’s Zijin Mining Polluting Serbian Village, Says Group
Just Finance International said the Zijin Mining project is one of the many highly polluting Chinese investments undertaken “without necessary environmental and social due diligence”
New Statesman: China’s global coal machine won’t be stopped so easily
Analysis by Just Finance International found that Chinese state-owned enterprises entered into overseas coal power contracts worth more than $18bn in 2021
As UN Again Condemns Mandalika Human Rights Violations, NGOs Demand End to AIIB Financing of Indonesian Tourism Project
![Indigenous protest in Mandalika: Give Compensation [for evictions from land]. Credit: The Indonesia Infrastructure Development Monitoring Coalition:](https://justfinanceinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/mandalika-Protest-copy.png)
The Coalition for Monitoring Indonesia’s Infrastructure Development and supporting NGOs today called on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and the Indonesian Government to stop AIIB financing for the quarter-billion dollar Mandalika Urban Development and Tourism Project, following a communication from the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council.
Grid: China’s promise to stop building coal plants overseas is full of caveats and loopholes
“I think the pledge is quite limited because it addresses the ‘new’ aspect only,” said Wawa Wang, program director of Just Finance International, adding that the government’s definition of “new” allows China to continue building dozens of plants.
Financial Times: The spread of Chinese influence around the world
Wawa Wang (director, Just Finance) interviewed by the Financial Times on Chinese influence in Serbia.
Energy Monitor: Should we be worried about coal’s resurgence?
Nick Ferris, Energy Monitor, 20 April, 2022: One of the big climate wins of 2021 was the announcement from China, Japan and South Korea that they would no longer fund new coal plants overseas. For China, this was massive: the country had long been the biggest funder of coal plants worldwide, with these projects forming a… Continue reading Energy Monitor: Should we be worried about coal’s resurgence?