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MNCs in the News

MNCs in the News-2020 July
August 1st, 2020
Chinese President Xi Jining courts foreign direct investment (FDI) in encouraging letter to the Global CEO Council. China plans to impose sanctions on United States (US) company Lockheed Martin because of the latter’s weapons sales to Taiwan. China’s new, strict cybersecurity laws and regulations have driven Morgan Stanley, a US investment banking firm, to block its interns in China from remotely accessing its virtual network. The recent border clash with China has increased the pressure on New Delhi to reduce the...
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MNCs in the News-2020 June
July 7th, 2020
China Ministry of Commerce data shows respectable year-over-year inward foreign direct investment growth (FDI) in April and May, with some hoping for continued growth in the 2nd half of the year. China’s new development initiatives for its Western regions are not succeeding in attracting inward FDI (IFDI) for both business and political reasons. The China Securities Regulatory Commission will look to allow big Chinese commercial banks into investment banking so they can help China fend off the growing challenge from...
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Wong MNC Center News

Executive Director Jean-Marc F. Blanchard participates in Brazilian Center for International Relations China Analysis Group Webinar on Asian Supply Chains and Decoupling
June 1st, 2020
On May 6, 2020, Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations (Wong MNC Center) participated in a webinar organized by the China Analysis Group of the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI). For this timely CEBRI webinar, which focused on the theme of “Asian production chains and technological decoupling,” and included participants representing institutions in Brazil,...
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Mr. Kenneth Jarrett joins the Advisory Board of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations
April 14th, 2020
Mr. Kenneth Jarrett has joined the Advisory Board of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations. He is a Senior Advisor with the Albright Stonebridge Group, a strategic advisory firm based in Washington, D.C. He previously served as President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai from September 2013 to December 2018. Prior to that he was the Greater China Chairman for APCO Worldwide, a Washington-based public affairs...
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Shaun Breslin, Ph.D., has joined the Wong MNC Center as a Senior Research Fellow
March 26th, 2020
Dr. Shaun Breslin has joined the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations as a Senior Research Fellow. Dr. Breslin is Professor of Political and International Studies at Warwick University (UK), Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and Co-Editor of the top ranked Pacific Review. He is a well-known specialist on China and political economy. For more information, please see http://www.mnccenter.org/research-fellows.
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Pichamon Yeophantong, Ph.D., has joined the Wong MNC Center as a Senior Research Fellow
March 26th, 2020
Dr. Pichamon Yeophantong has joined the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations as a Senior Research Fellow. Dr. Yeophantong is an Australian Research Council Fellow, Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales Canberra, and leads a project examining the impacts of Chinese resource and infrastructure investment. For more information, please see http://www.mnccenter.org/research-fellows.
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Executive Director Jean-Marc F. Blanchard interviewed for Frankfurter Allgemeine story on the China-United States Phase I Trade deal
February 11th, 2020
Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, was interviewed for a Frankfurter Allgemeine, Germany’s equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, article published in the wake of the conclusion of the Phase I Trade deal between China and the United States (US) in mid-Januaruy. This wide-ranging piece asked why the deal was struck, which side won, and what is the likely direction of the...
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Executive Director Jean-Marc F. Blanchard speaks at EU-China Roundtable on “The Business of Trade, Investment, and Global Politics.”
October 27th, 2019
Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, participated in a EU-China Roundtable on “The Business of Trade, Investment, and Global Politics” organized by the University of Pittsburgh Asian Studies and European Studies Centers. At the Roundtable in Pittsburgh, held on October 24, Dr. Blanchard spoke about some of the challenges and opportunities for European businesses contemplating...
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Executive Director Jean-Marc F. Blanchard presents paper on China-India Relations in the Context of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) at Seminar on “The Future of Sino-Indian Relations”
October 27th, 2019
Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, presented a paper on China-India Relations in the Context of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) at a seminar on “The Future of Sino-Indian Relations: Problems and Prospects” held at Heidelberg University, Germany in mid-October 2019. Dr. Blanchard analyzed China’s economic, political, and military reaction to India’s multifaceted and...
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Executive Director Jean-Marc F. Blanchard interviewed for Asia Times article on situation in Hong Kong and impact on Chinese investment
September 29th, 2019
Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, was interviewed for a Asia Times story about the impact of Hong Kong protests on Chinese overseas foreign direct investment (FDI). The issue arises because a large proportion of Chinese outward FDI (OFDI), almost 60 percent, flows through Hong Kong. Chinese OFDI (COFDI) is already facing pressures because of increased sensitivites in host...
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Executive Director Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard invited to participate on panel for Bay Area Council “2019 California Technology Business Matchmaking” forum (Shanghai, China)
July 3rd, 2019
On June 24, Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, participated on a Panel entitled “Exploring the Benefits and Challenges of Cross-Border Collaboration on Innovation” at the Bay Area Council orchestrated “2019 California Technology Business Matchmaking” forum in Shanghai, China, which included entrepreneurs, investors, consultants, government officials, and industry association...
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Executive Director Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard gives invited speech for “China Crossroads” Talk Series (Shanghai, China)
June 1st, 2019
On May 29, Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations gave a speech entitled “Belt and Road, Neither Boom nor Bust: The Continuing Relevance of Politics and Economics” for the popular “China Crossroads” Talk Series. Dr. Blanchard addressed the heated debate about if China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is booming, on the road to stagnation, or, worse, failure and sought avoid the...
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Executive Director Blanchard becomes editor of the Palgrave Studies in Asia-Pacific Political Economy series
September 28th, 2015
The Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations Jean-Marc F. Blanchard has become the editor of the Palgrave Studies in Asia-Pacific Political Economy series. The series aims to publish works, which will be meaningful to academics, businesspeople, and policymakers and broaden or deepen their knowledge about contemporary events or significant trends, or enable them to think in new ways about the interaction of...
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Wong MNC Center Publications & Sponsored Publications

China’s Maritime Silk Road and Small States: Lessons from the Case of Djibouti

David Styan

This article sheds light on the factors shaping China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) in small states through a study of Djibouti and the MSRI. It also analyses the establishment of China’s first overseas military base and thus evaluates the military-security implications of Chinese MSRI ports.

Domestic Politics as Fuel for China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative: The Case of the Gulf Monarchies

Jonathan Fulton

China’s involvement with the Gulf monarchies has been built upon an economic foundation. With the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) this has expanded, as the Gulf monarchies see cooperation with China through MSRI projects as a means of advancing economic development programs necessary to move beyond single-resource rentier economies and relationships with external powers as a means of ensuring their security in an unstable region.

Publications of Wong MNC Center Staff, Advisory Board Members, and Research Fellows

“Covid-19 and the Consequences for Euro-Asian Business.”

Peter J. Buckley, OBE

In this podcast, Wong MNC Center Senior Research Fellow Peter J. Buckley offers his thoughts about the impact of Covid-19 and other contemporary global developments on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which he views as a political-economic endeavor. Buckley feels Covid-19 will raise questions about certain BRI projects given all the other budgetary demands that have arisen and will lead to a new focus on other forms of connectivity like the health and digital silk roads.

The Investment War with China, part III: U.S. investment in China

Jean-Marc F. Blanchard

This article is the final part in a three-part series examining the United States (US) investment war with China and focuses on Washington’s war against US foreign direct investment (FDI) in China. It first details the forms of the US war, which include negative rhetoric about US FDI in China, the US-China trade war, and efforts to encourage companies to return to the US. It then considers the political and economic costs and benefits of these diverse tactics, showing that the calculus rarely is straightforward.

Data Snapshots, Rankings, and Indexes

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Japan and Korea long have been Vietnam's dominant FDI sources
Japanese FDI Flows to Southeast Asian Countries Not Reaching Old Highs
China-Japan FDI flows seem little correlated with other economic flows

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