Involuntary Migrants,Political Revolutionaries and Economic Energisers: a history of the image of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia

Along the contemporary migration history of the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, three distinctive images have been constructed through the interaction between the overseas Chinese and Mainland China. First, the image of involuntary migrant, formulated by their migration activity and the continuous remittance they sent back to their hometowns, closely linked to the political and social-economic disturbances in the early years of the twentieth century. Second, the image of the overseas Chinese as political revolutionary was heavily politicised by the revolutionary policies of Mainland China in the 1950s and 1960s. Third, through the operational means of foreign direct investment, the overseas Chinese image of economic energiser was re-focused and mirror-imaged with the imperative of the economic reform of Mainland China in the 1970s and 1980s. On the one hand, the images of involuntary migrant, political revolutionary and economic energiser of the Southeast Asian overseas Chinese describe their situational status. On the other hand, these images also reflect the contemporary historical development of Mainland China.     

The Development of Outward FDI Regulation and the Internationalization of Chinese Firms

The Investment Development Path (IDP) model has been widely accepted for illustrating the relationship between the inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) positions of a country and its economic status based on the data from developed economies. In recent years, however, outward FDI from developing economies has increased dramatically and it has been argued that institutions are ‘forefront’ factors in addition to the economic index. In this article, we use statistical data from China, which has gone through dramatic regulation reform and FDI development, to test the validity of the IDP model. We also trace the history of Chinese FDI regulation development to answer the following question: in what way are regulations important for FDI in different periods? We use Lenovo as a case study to show how a Chinese firm ‘avoids’ and ‘adapts to’ regulation changes. We find that the FDI development of China still follows the IDP model; however, the Chinese government has accelerated the whole process through active regulation reform. In a transition economy such as China, FDI co-evolves with the regulation, and the firms which can influence or foresee the policy changes can prosper considerably.     

MARKET WATCH

Outbound Rush Despite a deep downturn in the world economy, Chinese firms are beefing up efforts to head overseas. China's outbound direct investment (ODI) rose 1.1 percent year on year to $56.53 billion in 2009, the largest among developing countries, said a report jointly released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the National Bureau of Statistics and the Sate Administration of Foreign Exchange on September 5. This was the eighth consecutive year of growth.     

Identity,Sovereignty, and Economic Penetration: Beijing's responses to offshore Chinese democracies

Investigating how the PRC responds to democratization in Taiwan and Hong Kong, this paper argues that the Chinese Communist leadership has mainly developed three strategies in managing the complicated crises, including Beijing's own legitimacy crisis and the integration crisis of the Chinese nation, caused by the rise of offshore Chinese democracies. These strategies are: identity politics, sovereignty politics, and economic penetration. With ‘identity politics’, Beijing identifies ‘identification with the Communist leadership’ as the sole Chinese national identification, and utilizes the nationalistic passions of mainland and even overseas Chinese people against democrats in Taiwan and Hong Kong, by labeling the latter as ‘separatists’ or ‘national traitors’. Further, Beijing defines ‘sovereignty’ in a way in which the ‘central’ government monopolizes all possessions of the nation, and excludes ‘people's sovereignty’ from the politics of national reunification or the ‘one country, two systems’ model actualization. While appealing to both ‘soft power’ based in ‘patriotic nationalism’ and ‘hard power’ embedded in national sovereignty, however, the Chinese regime also mobilizes business resources and opportunities provided by China's growing economic power and China's dominance in Greater Chian economic integration for its political purposes of curbing offshore Chinese democracies.     

Trading with the Dragon: Chinese trade,investment and development assistance in the Pacific Islands

Chinese development assistance, raw material exploitation, investment and trade increases in their region are causing Pacific Islanders to ask: ‘Why are the Chinese interested in Pacific Island states?’ and ‘Why has there been an upsurge of the Chinese influence in the Pacific?’. This article seeks to add to the debate on that issue by examining the nature and the evolving purpose of Chinese engagement with the small island states of the Pacific. Only a small proportion of China's outbound investment goes to the Pacific Islands, but it has a considerable effect on the region's economically dependent states. Pacific Island nations have a pressing need for overseas investment and are highly dependent on development assistance. They are, therefore, particularly vulnerable to external players.     

China's Sovereign Wealth Funds: origins,development, and future roles

China has established two of the world's newer large sovereign wealth funds (SWFs): the official China Investment Corporation (CIC), and the non-official and less transparent State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) Investment Company (SIC). Both provide alternative investment opportunities for China's exploding foreign exchange reserves, at US$2.4 trillion at the end of 2009, the largest in world history. This paper will address how China has accumulated its huge and growing foreign exchange reserves, and what roles these reserves, until 2007 managed only by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), have played in the establishment and development of China's two new SWFs. We will look specifically at why China's foreign exchange reserves have developed, and how the new SWFs are a part of broader efforts to provide investment alternatives for China's ballooning foreign exchange surpluses, particularly in light of the inflow of ‘hot’ foreign speculative funds. We will then point out some of the difficulties for China's financial officials of SWFs as they try to pursue multiple and sometimes competing goals, set by boards of directors representing different bureaucratic and economic interests, all within the context of a general lack of transparency and a rapidly growing economy. Finally, we will present our conclusions about the future roles of the two SWFs as well as of the policies being developed to decentralize foreign exchange reserve holdings while at the same time not slowing the growth of China's foreign trade surpluses, nor its foreign direct investments, nor its overall economic growth. We will also examine the effects of US-promoted Chinese currency appreciation on the future of China's foreign exchange reserves and its sovereign wealth funds.     

Law Guanxi: MNCs,state actors,and legal reform in China

Since 1978, China has opened itself to foreign direct investment and has undertaken significant legal reform, especially in the area of international commercial arbitration. I analyze the roles that foreign actors and state officials have played in changing Chinese legal institutions such as the Chinese International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) and personal relations, or guanxi. 1 ^1. La guanxi is a Chinese expression, meaning ‘to pull strings (to get things done)’. View all notes Foreign investors, attorneys, and non-governmental organizations are helping China to adopt formal commercial arbitral institutions that follow international norms. In that sense, foreign actors are contributing to rule of law in China. Yet, foreign investors also attempt to use guanxi to get around central regulations, thereby contributing to informal legal institutions. The combination of guanxi and formal legal institutions follows a model of path dependent institutional change. I use the terms, ‘layering’ and ‘bricolage’ to elucidate the ways that actors combine existing institutions with new legal forms introduced by foreign investors, attorneys, and NGOs.     

改革开放与跨国（地区）投资历程考察

改革开放30余年,中国从封闭半封闭状态走向对外开放。改革开放前,中外经济关系主要是对外贸易与对外经济合作。改革开放以来的巨大变化突出体现为跨国（地区）直接投资,主要包括“引进来”与“走出去”。始于改革开放初期的“引进来”,发展到“引进来”与“走出去”并行;21世纪初,随着中国加入WTO和政策法规体系逐渐完备,中外之间的跨国（地区）投资进入新的阶段。     

析国际投资法对外国直接投资的保护

对外国直接投资的法律保护,由于发达国家与发展中国家在国际投资领域的利益存在着巨大差距,使得国际社会尚未达成统一的多边投资规则。MAI为经济全球化时代的国际投资法对外国直接投资的保护规划了崭新的蓝图。在平衡不同国际主体利益要求的情况下,开放市场与吸引外资是相辅相成的,构建统一的国际多边投资规则终将是国际社会的现实选择。     

外商直接投资对中国产业结构升级的影响——基于粤苏鲁三省面板数据的时点个体固定效应分析

本文选取粤、苏、鲁三省2001～2011年第一、二、三产业的面板数据,采用时点个体固定效应模型,对外商直接投资对产业结构升级的影响做了实证分析,结果显示外商直接投资的进入促进了中国产业经济结构的升级.外商直接投资对第二产业的固定效应最大,其次是第三和第一产业.外商直接投资对第一、二产业的个体固定效应随经济发展水平的提高而降低;对第三产业的个体固定效应则随经济发展水平的提高而增强.外商直接投资对第一产业的时点固定效应呈一直降低趋势,对第二产业的时点固定效应则先升高后降低,对第三产业的时点固定效应呈先降低后升高趋势.     

Returnee Entrepreneurs: impact on China's globalization process

Recent research on returning Chinese students has focused on their role as an alternative solution to their home country's mandate to build technological capacity. This study shows the depth of the ‘brain circulation’ that is underway and the fact that overseas students are not only serving China from abroad or by returning, but after they return they play a leading role in many aspects of China's ‘going out’ strategy. These returnee entrepreneurs present many advantages to the Chinese economy. They have studied at the best universities in the world, were deeply involved in the New Economy, and have gained valuable experience in listed companies overseas. They often possess venture capital, many have experience working with some of the best MNCs in the world, and they serve to contribute enormously to China's current economic engagement with the world. The paper describes the returnees' impact on China's globalization drive and analyzes the factors leading to their success in comparison to MNCs and indigenous Chinese firms.     

Strange bedfellows: Dynamics of government‐business relations between Chinese local authorities and Taiwanese investors

China poses a theoretical challenge in that corruption and rent‐seeking activities have not hindered foreign direct investment and economic development. Studies in development have documented the problems of rent‐seeking. International capital presumably hesitates to step into a Third‐World country such as China, which cannot protect private property rights with a comprehensive legal framework. However, for the last decade in China export promotion, foreign capital, and industrial development have proceeded simultaneously. This research argues that local officials helped investors overcome the problem of high transaction costs during a period of institutional uncertainty and local informal rules supplied foreigners with effective protection of property rights under corrupt circumstances. By controlling rent‐seeking activities, local officials created a wide variety of ad hoc patronage for private and foreign investments within their administrative domain. In return, local governments received extrabudgetary payments for the official patronage. This article provides an in‐depth case study of the so‐called joint venture between Taiwanese enterprises and Chinese local authorities in the Pearl River Delta, the institutional bases for their collaboration and the dynamics of the relationship under institutional change.     

中国开放进程中的统筹发展问题

我国外资具有东部集聚的地理特征和以加工贸易为主的产业特征,这与国内地方保护的体制特征结合在一起,产生了国内市场一体化滞后于外部市场一体化的状,各地区在与国际经济贸易联系日益密切的同时,省际之间的贸易联系出现弱化的趋势,为了统筹国内经济与对外经济发展,必须在体制、投资与贸易等领域推进改革。     

我国企业应对跨国公司并购的对策

在我国加入世贸组织的新的历史条件下,外国跨国公司对我国的直接投资形式发生了变化,即由过去的投资办企业为主转变为收购我国企业股权为主,以掌握企业的经营控制权。国际企业并购对我国企业发生了正、负两方面的影响,因此,我国企业的对策应该是,充分发挥其积极的影响作用,限制或避免其消极的或负面的影响作用。     

China's Distinctive System: can it be a model for others?

The idea of the ‘Beijing Consensus’ does not accurately describe what has happened in China, nor does it represent a consensus among Chinese economists and policy-makers. This article presents six distinctive features of China's economic development, and argues that while each provides important lessons, none are easily copied by other developing countries. The intertwining of state and market in China is at the root of China's most distinctive developmental features. However, the specific character of the Chinese system and the way in which government and business relations have been structured cannot be readily replicated in other countries.     

后危机时期全球银行业格局的变化及我国银行业进行海外并购的利弊权衡

国际金融危机的爆发加快了全球银行业的整合速度。欧美发达国家银行业格局的变化为业绩优良的新兴国家银行提供了拓展业务的良好机遇。包括中国在内的新兴市场国家的银行业在危机中遭受的冲击较小,我国有实力的银行开始进行海外并购。虽然中国企业进行海外并购的道路并不平坦,但权衡得失,我们认为我国的银行有必要在经验和教训不断积累的过程中通过并购等方式进入海外市场。     

Bashing ‘the Chinese’: contextualizing Zambia's Collum Coal Mine shooting

The 2010 shooting of 13 miners at Zambia's small, privately-owned ‘Chinese’ Collum Coal Mine (CCM) has been represented by Western and Zambian politicians and media as exemplifying the ‘neo-colonial’ and ‘amoral’ practices of ‘China’ and ‘the Chinese’ in Africa. CCM has been used to provide a sharp contrast to the supposed ways of the Western firms that own most of Zambia's mines. Embedded in racial hierarchy and notions of strategic competition between the West and China, the discourse of the CCM shootings further shapes conceptions of global China and Chinese overseas. While examining all the oppressive conditions that have given rise to protest at the mine, we contextualize the shooting and subsequent conflicts. In analyzing CCM's marginal and troubled development, we discuss aspects of the 2010 shooting incident known to miners and union leaders, but ignored by politicians and media. We look at the shooting's political fallout, focus also on the epilogue that was the 2012 CCM riot—in which one Chinese person was murdered and several others seriously injured—and trace the sometimes violent discontent manifested at other foreign-owned mines in Zambia since their privatization in the late 1990s. The empirical data for this detailed study derive from hundreds of documentary sources and interviews with union leaders, workers, officials and others in Zambia from 2011 to 2013.     

Art on Rock The Helan Mountain rock engravings shed light on history and culture in Ningxia

With sprawling deserts and serene lakes, the natural wonders of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region have never failed totake the breath away from visitors. The areahas another major attraction, though: the Helan Mountain rock engravings.     

China's post‐1979 uneven regional policy: Shanghai and Guangdong

This article examines the effects of China's uneven regional development policy, especially in relation to Shanghai. It analyses the evolving role of Shanghai and the constraints that it has operated under during the reform period. Discussion will be particularly devoted to the areas such as the fiscal transfer, central investment in the municipality, the tax and other incentive program allowed to increase the inflows of foreign direct investment by adopting a series of comparisons with Guangdong province. The article argues that it is not economically efficient for China to ‘open its door’ by creating new cities in its southern area while neglecting to improve existing facilities in Shanghai and other advanced cities. This article also suggests that social‐economic institutional change is the same important source of Shanghai's difficulty in keeping pace with Guangdong as the preferential treatment given to Guangdong by the central government in the 1980s.     

Conditionality and Path Dependence in Chinese Lending

China's long insistence on non-interference in sovereign states' domestic affairs has contributed to a widely held impression that China also lends abroad without attaching policy conditions. In this article, we debunk the notion that China's bilateral lending is entirely devoid of conditionality, by showing that it involves elements of political conditionality, embedded conditionality and cross-conditionality, stemming from the varying concerns of Chinese foreign policy-makers and state-linked lenders. We then draw on the path-dependence literature to explore the possibility that there may also be more indirect forms of conditionality associated with Chinese lending practices. By ‘emergent conditionality’, we refer to structural lock-in effects that may cumulatively restrict or redirect recipient countries' policy-making choices similarly as more direct conditionality would do, even if the PRC government officially shuns conditionality.