ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter has several purposes. It lays out the many rationales that Chinese companies have to expand and deepen their roles in ports in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as well as a variety of reasons that the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC/China) has to support their increasing role abroad. It also provides a general overview of China’s multifaceted participation in ports in Europe and LAC. It discusses, too, positive and negative European and LAC views about the growing involvement of Chinese firms and the PRC in their ports. The chapter further summarizes the various contributions in the book, identifying areas of agreement and disagreement as well as, importantly, highlighting the various causal factors that chapter authors reveal in their analyses. The chapter’s final section supplies summary remarks; enumerates a number of the book’s business, policy, and theoretical implications; and recommends potential research directions that analysts might take in the future.
