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

“Chinese Direct Investment in Europe: Economic Opportunities and Political Challenges”

Sophie Meunier

Over the past decade, China has become one of the largest senders of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world, including in the European Union (EU). Why did this rapid surge happen and how did European countries react politically to this new phenomenon, which some have presented as unprecedented and even dangerous? After surveying the recent evolution of Chinese FDI in Europe, this chapter analyzes the match between Chinese demand for European assets and European supply of assets after the outbreak of the euro crisis.

East Asian Integration: Goods, Services and Investment

Lili Yan Ing, Martin Richardson, and Shujiro Urata

The growth of world trade has been stagnant in recent times; trade liberalization now has been challenged. The recent rise of anti-globalization calls for a better integration in East Asia. How should East Asia manage its openness? This book provides profound analyses on rules of origins, non-tariff measures, restrictiveness in services, and investment. It gives insight into how East Asian countries should shape trade, investment, and industrial policies to create better integration.

China's Belt and Road Initiative: Changing the Rules of Globalization

Ilan Alon, Wenxian Zhang, and Cristoph Lattemann

Since the introduction of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI), first proposed in late 2013, international scholars have begun to study this new policy and its implications in the global age. While the BRI provides new opportunities for China in terms of regional cooperation and global development, many also raise concerns about China’s intentions of using economic means to achieve strategic and foreign policy objectives.

Emerging multinationals from China and Latin America: a comparative analysis

Lourdes Casanova et al.

Latin American countries were pioneers in developing economies’ outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) activities. Since late 1960s and early 1970s, Latin American countries, mainly Argentina and Brazil, led the first wave of OFDI from developing economies. Though they lost ground during the 1980s debt crisis, Latin American OFDI has been catching up since late 1990s. In contrast, China’s participation in OFDI started much later, mainly after the year 2000, but accelerated quickly after 2008.

The Development of China's Maritime Silk Road Initiative in South Asia & it Implication for Business & Government

Jean-Marc F. Blanchard

This piece discusses the general features as well as economic and political goals of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the associated Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI), with a special focus on the MSRI in South Asia, a key MSRI region. It also identifies a number of economic factors at the country level, and with respect to China-e.g., high debt levels for some South Asian participants and and Chinese limits on outward foreign direct investment (FDI)-that will affect the realization of the MSRI.

"A retrospective and agenda for future research on Chinese outward foreign direct investment."

Peter J. Buckley, Jeremy Clegg, Hinrich Voss, Adam R. Cross, Xin Liu, and Ping Zheng

The authors’ original 2007 Journal of International Business Studies article, “The Determinants of Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment,” was the first theoretically based empirical analysis of the phenomenon. It utilized internalization theory to explain the internationalization of Chinese state-owned enterprises. This paper showed that the authors’ had failed to ask sufficiently challenging questions about the effects of home country institutions on outward foreign direct investment (OFDI).

China's red-tape problem may be tougher than Xi

Jean-Marc F. Blanchard

This piece tackles the important issue of whether or not China's planned major reform of its government structure will have positive implications for foreign businesses. It argues that there are logical, factual, and historical reasons to be cautious such as the fact that fewer government ministries do not necessarily mean there will be agencies that are friendlier to foreign companies.

Cuba’s changing of the guard and Sino-Cuban Relations

Scott MacDonald

This piece looks at the future of Cuba's relations with China in the post-Castro era. It notes that Cuba faces substantial serious domestic and international political and economic challenges and that because of this it sees China as a potential ally and source of economic support. While China will be interested in strengthening its backing for Cuba because of the latter's vital location, it will be cautious. First, China will not want to "jeopardize the hugely more important U.S.

Revisiting the Resurrected Debate About Chinese Neocolonialism

Jean-Marc F. Blanchard

This Op-Ed originally appeared in the February 8, 2018 online edition of The Diplomat. It engages the persistant debate, revived recently for various reasons, about putative Chinese neocolonialism.

Attracting Chinese Foreign Direct Investment to Small, Developed Economies: The Case of Ireland

Collison, Phoebe, Louis Brennan, and Ruth Rios-Morales

The authors present a multilevel, in-depth analysis of Chinese investment in Ireland using semi-structured interviews and case studies. Their findings suggest that while Chinese FDI can be explained to an extent through classical theories of FDI, such investment is unconventional in many regards and thus requires the extension of established theories.

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