Southeast Asia

This October 15, 2024 Finance Asia piece by Han Shih Toh discusses evolving patterns in the volumes, geographic, and sectoral destination of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI). Responding to queries from Toh, Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Founding Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, said he did not accept that Chinese outward FDI (OFDI) is becoming “small and beautiful.’” He noted that it was shifting to manufacturing and that there was a much greater emphasis on Southeast Asia.

In mid-March, Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Founding Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations (Wong MNC Center), gave two speeches at the 2023 International Studies Association Annual Meeting, one of the largest global gatherings of international relations specialists, in Montreal, Canada.

In early October, the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations (Wong MNC Center) hosted a workshop entitled “The Effects of Chinese Outward FDI in Southeast Asia” in the San Francisco Bay Area (California, USA). This 1-1/2 day workshop, organized and sponsored by the Wong MNC Center, drew leading academics, researchers, and policymakers from China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) reports China’s utilized inward foreign direct investment (FDI) for the first 10 months of 2021 increased 17.8 percent over the prior year period. China imposes various fines on Taiwan’s Far Eastern Group, pointing out that independence supporters and “‘their connected companies and financiers must be punished.” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon quip about the longevity of his firm versus the Chinese Communist Party leads to multiple apologies. China’s State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) issues a guidance document about anti-monopoly compliance that includes provisions relating to anti-trust practices and risks overseas. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Pakistan encounters various serious challenges and disappointments. China’s high-speed BRI railway in Laos officially opens with questions about its ability to deliver the economic goods and economic viability. Japanese government taking steps to institute a system for intensified security screening of foreign goods, parts, and service providers. Japan will enhance cooperation with International Labor Organization (ILO) to ensure Japanese companies have better human rights due diligence systems. Korean legislator charges that Apple and Google are not sufficiently complying with law barring dominant app store operators from forcing app developers to use their payment systems. Korea’s SK Hynix may not be able to upgrade memory chip factory in China due to United States opposition to its planned use of ASML chip making equipment.