"Beware of Chinese bearing gifts: Why Chinese Direct Investment Poses Political Challenge in Europe and the United States"

Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) in the European Union (EU) and United States (US) has soared, provoking many anxieties about its effects and, in some cases, a backlash. Two factors explain the intensification of concern. One is that Chinese outward FDI (OFDI) is relatively new. The other is that Chinese OFDI (COFDI) is from China, resultingly unique, and therefore deserves special treatment. What is unique about COFDI is that is that it comes from “an emerging economy, a unique political system, and a non-ally in the security dimension.” Also germane has been the domestic context in the EU and the US.

This chapter appears in Julien Chaisse, ed., China’s International Investment Strategy: Bilateral, Regional, and Global Law and Policy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), pp. 345-359.