On January 14th:

The World Bank said it had barred seven firms -- four from China and three from the Philippines -- from bidding on its projects due to alleged corruption. The firms were involved in a road project in the Philippines financed by the Washington-based bank.

China Road and Bridge Corp. was debarred for eight years, China State Construction Corp. and China Wu Yi Co. Ltd. for six years, and China Geo-Engineering Corp. for five years.

This ban affects all World Bank projects worldwide and is severely damaging to the reputation of these Chinese companies. In particular, China State Construction Group is one of the largest state-owned Chinese Construction Companies; so this might have had diplomatic repercussions in the World Bank's Beijing office.