The ASEAN-China Investment Agreement: A regionalization of China��s BITs

This paper analyzes the provisions of the Agreement on Investment of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (the “ASEAN”), especially those on the scope of application, national treatment, Most Favored Nation (MFN) treatment, expropriation, and investor-state dispute resolution. The paper then compares the new agreement with other international investment agreements concluded by China or ASEAN. In comparison with existing Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) between China and individual ASEAN member states, there are significant changes in the Investment Agreement which provides a higher standard of investment protection. Such an investment protection is common in the new generation of Chinese BITs, which were signed by China since 2000. However, unlike some other investment agreements in free trade arrangements, the Investment Agreement rarely touches upon the investment liberalization, although the Framework Agreement of ASEAN-China FTA provides for creating a liberal investment regime. This paper concludes that negotiating an investment agreement in China’s Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) is regarded as an opportunity to update its old BITs, but China is not yet prepared to undertake investment liberalization in its FTAs. The ASEAN-China Investment Agreement is, rather, an extension of China’s BITs at the regional level, which is a demonstration of China’s growing influence at this level.     

Somaliland: An African Struggle for Nationhood and International Recognition

This paper investigates the benefits of Chinese companies to the Ugandan economy using data gathered during fieldwork in Kampala. Potential contributions to the Ugandan economy are analysed through a number of economic and managerial factors, and their determinants. This paper shows that potential benefits vary on the basis of sector, investment size and ECCO registration. The potential harm caused by one sector in particular is indicated. The paper presents recommendations regarding how potential benefits can be maximised and harm reduced. Given the increased presence of Chinese enterprises in Africa, these findings are relevant to African policymakers and academics.     

国际投资仲裁中最惠国条款的适用和管辖权的新发展

国际投资仲裁中某一投资条约规定的最惠国条款能否延伸适用于其他投资条约规定的仲裁程序是近年来的一个热门话题,仲裁裁决的实践给出了两种完全不同的答案,并且依据《维也纳条约法公约》对有关条款进行解释几乎是所有仲裁庭必做的工作.但是近两年的裁决似乎有一种将最惠国条款扩大适用于仲裁程序的趋势,尽管不同仲裁庭甚至同一仲裁庭的不同仲裁员对于同一问题可能会有不同的观点.我国签订的投资条约应当明确最惠国条款和仲裁程序的适用范围,以及规定条约不溯及既往原则等.     

Chinese and Japanese investment in Southeast and South Asia: case studies of the electronics and automobile industries

Abstract

This article uses extensive fieldwork data to focus on the question of how Chinese and Japanese companies are competing in neighboring countries of Asia, and what economic forces will shape their future growth in the region. It begins by briefly discussing the history of Chinese and Japanese investment in the South and Southeast Asian regions. It traces the development of Japanese overseas investment policies, as well as China's more recent ‘Going Out’ government program to encourage overseas flows of capital. It then builds on prior political economy work as it uses case study focuses, with primary data based on the author's fieldwork research in several nations of Southeast Asia and in India, of the two key sectors of automobiles and electronics. It compares and contrasts the investment strategies of companies from each country, as well as the successes and failures of investments in the industries. It finds that Japanese companies’ advantages lie in industries utilizing advanced technology and management skills. Though the Japanese continue to lead in many areas, including automobiles, they have begun to face competition and potentially reduced profits in vital manufacturing areas. Meanwhile, Chinese overseas companies have made significant advances in the consumer electronics sector, using low prices and good quality, though overseas automobile investments have gained little traction. The article concludes that, if the Chinese can improve their product quality, capitalize on improving managerial skills and a deeper level of experience in the region, and establish brands they can sell with reliable distribution networks, Japanese companies could face losses to their Asian neighbor in these important parts of the continent they have dominated for decades.     

DISCUSSION - Agricultural Policy Reform and Rural Livelihoods in Central Mexico

This contribution examines the impact of profound changes to agricultural policy implemented since 1988 on the livelihoods of Mexico's rural population. Detailed studies in four villages show that rural incomes are very unevenly distributed within communities leaving half of households in poverty. During the last decade key factors affecting village economies have been international and national, rather than specific changes to farm policy. Most changes have been to the detriment of the communities studied, but peasant households have adapted and survived, at a price. If the worst fears about the consequences of economic liberalisation have not been realised, neither have the hopes. Depressed markets for basic goods and services have limited the growth of the rural economy. Private investment and provision of services have not been stimulated.     

Post-socialist China: Labour relations in Korean-managed factories

Abstract

How are labour relations practiced in Korean-managed factories in China? It is often said that labour relations in Korean transnational factories are abusive, even despotic. In this article, I argue that the disciplinary nature of labour relations in Korean factories in China is more complex and so multi-dimensional that they cannot be characterised as a simple economic matter of labour exploitation. These relations entail hierarchical segregation, normalising workers' behaviour through fines and salary reductions, personal degradation and dissimilar cultural practices.     

Innovation and growth in traditional agriculture of the lower Volta,Ghana

This article addresses the important question of whether foreign direct investment enhances economic growth and labour productivity in Mexico, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. After briefly reviewing the Mexican experience with net FDI inflows during the 1990s, the article presents a simple endogenous growth model which explicitly incorporates any positive (negative) externalities generated by additions to the foreign capital stock. Using cointegration analysis, the article estimates a dynamic labour productivity function for the 1960-95 period that includes the impact of the growth rate in the stocks of both private and foreign capital (as opposed to the flows) and the economically active population (EAP) (rather than the rate of population growth). The error correction model (ECM) estimates suggest that increases in both private ad (lagged) foreign investment spending, as well as the rate of growth in exports, have a positive and economically significant effect on the rate of labour productivity growth. In addition, the results show that increases in the EAP have a negative and statistically significant effect on the rate of labour productivity growth, while changes in the government consumption variable have a negative but marginally significant impact. The error correction terms of the estimated models are negative and statistically significant, thus suggesting that deviations of actual labour productivity growth from its long-run value are corrected in subsequent periods. Finally the article generates historical simulations from the estimated ECM's and offers some policy recommendations to enhance the positive externalities associated with FDI inflows.     

中国企业在发展中国家投资矿业的风险与应对策略

近年来,中国企业对外矿业投资发展迅速。鉴于市场竞争程度、开发成本及自身实力等原因,许多中国企业选择了在发展中国家进行投资。本文对中国企业在发展中国家开发矿产资源过程中的风险和问题进行分析,并提出应对建议。     

China in the context of globalization

Although this paper challenges the standard viewpoint that foreign direct investment actually occurred in colonial times it also finds parallels with today’s international finance. Evidence shows that the reverse flow of funds was infinitely much greater than possible foreign investment for at least one colony, the Netherlands East Indies (colonial Indonesia). We calculate for the late colonial period (1880–1939) out of its total colonial surplus at least US$430 billion in today’s terms (about three-quarters of the total) was available for investment. This was far in excess of actual investment. Less than one-third of the available for investment went to colonial Indonesia and a further one-third was invested in other countries. The remainder is attributed to investment in the Netherlands (mainly portfolio), investment by non-Dutch corporations and to some statistical errors and omissions. Furthermore, we indicate their actual vital function within the global economic and financial organisation of the Netherlands in late colonial times. The probability of similar occurrences today is raised.     

Capturing vote-seeking incentives and the cultivation of a personal and party vote

Electoral rules establish incentives that encourage candidates to strike a particular balance between cultivating their own personal reputations and cultivating shared party reputations. Higher levels of intraparty competition stress the need for an individual reputation and minimize the usefulness of a shared, party reputation. We develop a new indicator of intraparty competition that addresses shortcomings pointed out in previously used indicators. We also identify new, particularly intuitive indicators of ”personal” and ”party” vote seeking. Using within-system and across-system variation in parliamentary elections in Japan, we find that candidate manifestos contain more frequent uses of first-person pronouns and candidate names and fewer references to political parties when intraparty competition is stiffest.