Wednesday, April 9 @ 1:00-2:00pm CT | Zoom Webinar

Title: Outward Foreign Direct Investment: A Chinese Foreign Policy Tool

Presenters: Dr. Roselyn Hsueh (Temple University) & Dr. James Frick (US Army War College)

Discussants: Dr. Jack Zhang (KU) & Rigao Liu (KU) 

Abstract: Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) increased exponentially following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. What explains the global financial risk taking at the commercial level by firms from an authoritarian state? This paper contends the Chinese government utilizes OFDI as a foreign policy tool to achieve political economic ends. The Chinese government leverages OFDI based on the perceived strategic value at the sector level of the investment destination to enhance the national technology base, promote the global competitiveness of indigenous industry, and achieve geopolitical ambitions. Exploiting a novel measure of technology intensity of trade, original cross-national pooled panel models with country and time fixed effects examine Chinese OFDI in developed versus developing countries from 2003-2017. Results, accounting for resource and defense trade indexes, show Chinese OFDI is a function of technology intensity of exports (market access), technology intensity of imports (technology transfer), and United Nations roll-call votes (political affinity). Results by world region and illustrative cases further substantiate the paper’s arguments.

The KU Trade War Lab (TWL) supports funded research, offers student research training, and enables campus outreach on the political economy of trade and conflict. To view current projects and upcoming events, please visit: https://sites.google.com/view/jackzhang/twl

Thank you also to our co-sponsors for promoting this event! 
- Department of Political Science

- Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS)

- The Institute for Social Policy and Research (IPSR)