Foreign Direct Investment in the PRC: Preferences, Policies and Performance

Abstract

In establishing an investment policy in post-Mao China, policy was designed to gain the benefits of foreign direct investment (capital inflow, job cteation, export growth, and the upgrading of technology and skills) without suffering any of the perceived negative consequences. As a result policy makers attempted ro segregate the investment regime, restricting or prohibiting investment where domestic Chinese producers might be vulnerable to international competition, whilst encouraging investment to produce exports and where there was little or no domestic capacity. In the process, considerable autonomy over investment policy was devolved to local governments, which in turn were heavily influenced by the interests of foreign investors in shaping local investment strategies. From the mid-1990s, the policy of shielding domestic producers from competition was challenged from both external actors seeking the creation of a level playing field, and internal actors who questioned the logic of the status quo. Bur whilst there has been considerable Iiberalisation, including the extension offorms of investment and ownership (not least as a result of Chinas WTO entry criteria) conceptions of social stability. the potential impact of investment on such social stability, still remain crucial determinants of investment policy.

Investment liberalisation, technology take-off and export markets entry: Does foreign ownership structure matter?

“…This makes it more attractive for foreigninvested firms to invest in R&D in China. To encourage FDI in high-tech industries and to accelerate the pace of introducing advanced technologies from aboard, China also issued a separate "Catalogue of Encouraged Hi-Tech products for foreign investment" that listed eleven types and 721 items where investment is encouraged to improve China's technological base, including electronics and information, software, aeronautics and astronautics etc (Breslin, 2006).…”

Myanmar-China peculiar relationship: Trade, investment and the model of development

“…In the case of China, these sectors are also dominated by large state-owned companies, which include, among others, Sinopec, PetroChina and Shenhua group. This is almost an exact copy of the Chinese catalogue, which clearly delineates which industrial sectors are reserved for state-owned domestic enterprises and which are not (Breslin, 2006).…”

Post-socialist Myanmar and the East Asian Development Model

“…22 Ibidem. also takes deliberate actions to limit market access, as in the case of China based on the so-called Catalogue (Breslin 2006). This does not apply only to measures from the first phase of economic reforms (1988-2011), when 12 industry sectors were reserved for state-owned enterprises (Rieffel 2015), but also to the state policy during the reform acceleration period (2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015).…”