A nova fronteira do capital chinês: reconfiguração do semiárido nordestino como território de interesse estratégico

Abstract

This study investigates how Chinese investments in the Northeastern Semi-arid region are reconfiguring the spatial division of labor in Brazil and reshaping the forms of organization of peripheral space under neoliberalism. Historically treated as a problem-space by national development policies, the Semi-arid has, since the last decade—and more intensely after 2019—begun to attract foreign capital in strategic sectors such as renewable energy, infrastructure, and commodity outflow. The research, qualitative in nature, is based on bibliographic and documentary analysis, drawing on the theoretical contributions of Celso Furtado, David Harvey, Milton Santos, and Ruy Mauro Marini. The aim is to understand whether this new territorial centrality represents an overcoming of the historical condition of marginalization or whether it updates classical mechanisms of underdevelopment and dependency, reframing the Semi-arid and inserting it into the functioning of global capitalism. The specific objectives include mapping the Northeastern Semi-arid states that receive Chinese investments and the economic sectors involved; analyzing the volume, origin of resources, and institutional instruments that enable these inflows; and investigating the territorial effects of these investments, such as changes in production chains, land use, and regional infrastructure. The findings reveal that the China–Semi-arid relationship reinforces the core–periphery logic of dependency, since investments are concentrated in sectors strategic for China: importing Brazilian oil to sustain its energy matrix and investing in renewable energy and the manufacturing sector (especially automotive production) to channel China’s surplus capital and flood the Brazilian economy with Chinese products, thereby deteriorating Brazil’s terms of trade.