The coronavirus, otherwise known as Covid-19, has hit foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into China hard. This should surprise no one—money is scarce; the payback from FDI now seems far away; and resources are being husbanded on the home front. This has not stopped foreign businesspeople in China from trying...
Archives: Blog entries
March 26, 2020
March 1, 2020
China’s coronavirus epidemic has had profound economic effects including dramatically reducing travel within and outside China, severely suppressing business activity in the education, entertainment, food & beverage, and leisure and recreation industries, among others, and disrupting or freezing manufacturing and the delivery of production inputs and end goods. It is...
February 1, 2020
Previously, I expressed mild skepticism and then later guarded optimism about China’s financial sector opening. The recent United States-China Phase One trade deal suggests the situation may be even better than originally thought with one entire chapter of the agreement speaking to the sector’s opening.
December 30, 2019
European countries like Germany, the United Kingdom, and Norway have been struggling over the extent to which they should use equipment and services and accept foreign direct investment (FDI) from Chinese telecommunication firms. The United States has played no small role in fueling these actors’ quandaries by warning loudly and...
December 3, 2019
Recently, foreign pharmaceutical makers such as AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Sanofi, and Roche slashed the prices of a large number of drugs sold in China, the world’s second largest drug market. They cut prices far below their prices in the United States (US) and elsewhere so Beijing would put these drugs...
November 7, 2019
China and the European Union (EU) have been discussing a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) for a long time. Indeed, the two sides held their 21st round of China-EU BIT negotiations in June 2019. This round seemed odd given that just 1 year before Chinese media and connected interviewees were touting...
October 27, 2019
In May, China passed a new law relating to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that comes into effect at the beginning of 2020. This law replaces three laws relating to wholly-owned foreign enterprises, contractual joint ventures (JVs), and equity JVs that previously constituted China’s formal FDI regime. Many were encouraged by...
September 30, 2019
These days “Washington” seems to think little of Chinese investment. It does not matter if it is Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States (US) or US FDI in China. Importantly, the core concerns in each case are different. The former largely has been a security issue because...
August 26, 2019
The Shanghai Free Trade Zone (SFTZ) came into being in 2013. Since its birth, it has scored accomplishments such as faster customs processing times and easier business establishment. Overall, however, it has disappointed, failing to deliver notable breakthroughs with respect to its negative list, free currency flows, or financial sector...
August 2, 2019
In my March blog, I expressed skepticism about China’s financial sector reform due to Beijing’s myriad political and economic reasons for maintaining control of the banking, insurance, and securities sectors. Despite this and the fact we still need to see if many policies are implemented or implemented fully, there has...
