China bets on manufactured water, and wants to sell it to the world
China is emerging as a major supplier of water technology to countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, with Chinese firms selling desalination membranes, filtration equipment and engineering services to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, often through the Belt and Road Initiative. China exported more than $2 billion of water filtering and purifying machinery in 2025, up 25% from $1.6 billion in 2020, according to UN Comtrade. At home, spending on water conservancy has grown faster than military spending since 2015 and now exceeds 1.2 trillion yuan a year, according to China Water Risk.
Why it matters: The export push ties domestic water security to Belt and Road infrastructure markets, extending China's commercial role in water-stressed economies.