China is financing projects with its $2.5 trillion reserve in countries that were once satellite nations of the Soviet Union to gain greater economic influence in the area. Beijing projects that Europe’s Eastern bloc nations, such as Germany, Poland and Hungary, will be some of the greatest consumers of its goods in the next decade.

“In Serbia, the Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM) has helped finance a 170-million euro ($235 million) bridge project in Belgrade,” Deutsche Welle reported. “China and Croatia have agreed to build a new airport in Zagreb, and a Chinese industrial zone is to be constructed in Bulgaria, near the capital Sofia.”

Since 2007, Chinese companies have also been increasingly investing in Poland.

Tomasz Ostasxewicz, director of the bilateral economic cooperation department at the Polish economy ministry, said in The New York Times that China has become the main supplier of electronic goods to Poland.

“The envisaged amount of Chinese investment for 2010 could amount to 500 million euros,” he stated.

“Eberhard Sandschneider, a China expert from the German Council on Foreign Relations…said Beijing is keen on securing resources and gaining access to markets in all of these countries. But most importantly, China wants to gradually position itself strategically in the region, he said” (Deutsche Welle).