[dgudkov]

I don't necessarily agree with the term 'colonize' here, but if you buy resources and depend on them, you would definitely want to control as much as possible the territories the resources are coming from. Especially if they are currently governed by weak and unstable governments. It's state-level risk management 101.

[Arn_Thor]

A weak government is easy to buy. The less "skin in the game" China has, the more easily it can buy the favor of whoever is in power. The only way China could screw up that dynamic is by overplaying its hand through excessively unfavorable credit terms or starting projects in said country (such as outsourcing production) that draws the ire of the local population. Granted, that is happening in some places