Chinese Overseas Direct Investment - What Kind of Opportunity?

Working Paper
Dr Kerry Brown, January 2008

China has never before been an external investor. In the Qing Dynasty, 150 years ago, its accumulation of silver bullion in return for goods led to tragic conflict with the West.
China's overseas investments, and the reactions to them, have raised questions over the division between the state and non-state sector in China, the corporate governance of Chinese companies, and over the real condition of the Chinese economy.
For economies like the UK's, the imminent flow of Chinese investment offers an opportunity and a challenge. It brings encounter, and potential conflict, with Chinese corporate behaviour, with the Chinese state controlling the funds, and with Chinese aspirations and their real intent in the 21st century as they extend their sphere of influence.