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Regulations and Applications of Ethics in Business Practice pp 207–223Cite as

Business Ethics and Chinese Overseas Investment

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Abstract

Chinese overseas investment has undergone a significant increase in the last few years. These investments are not only conducted by the state-owned companies, but also by the private enterprises. Furthermore, the range of overseas investment has become broader than before, covering agriculture, energy, natural resources, transportation, manufacturing, cultural, educational, and other sectors. However, there are some concerns around whether the concept of “business ethics” has been widely implemented by the Chinese business circle. Furthermore, what are the key institutional designs to address this issue? Is there any law or regulation to regulate and enforce this concept? This paper, by studying the relevant regimes, aims to examine the above questions. The first part of this paper will review the development of Chinese overseas investment. Secondly, this paper looks at the legal and institutional framework for the regulation and supervision of overseas investment. Moreover, by a close examination of the current law, regulations and industrial guidelines relating to ethical requirements, conclusions will be drawn.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Issued date: 13 July 2009, effective date: 1 August 2009, Article 2.

  2. 2.

    Ministry of Commerce, National Bureau of Statistics, State Administration of Foreign Exchange (2011), Statistical Bulletin of China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment 2010.

  3. 3.

    Ibid.

  4. 4.

    Reuters (17 Jan 2013), “China’s Outbound Investment Leaps to Record High in December”, http://www.cnbc.com/id/100389317, last accessed: 1 July 2013.

  5. 5.

    Ministry of Commerce (18 January 2013), “The Bulletin of Chinese Non-financial Outward Foreign Direct Investment in 2012 (2012 Nian Woguo Feijinronglei Duiwai Zhijie Touzi Jianming Tongji)”, http://www.MOFCOM.gov.cn/article/tongjiziliao/dgzz/201301/20130100006028.shtml, last accessed: 1 July 2013.

  6. 6.

    Ministry of Commerce (18 January 2016), “Official of the Department of Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce Comments on China’s Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation in 2015”, http://english.MOFCOM.gov.cn/article/newsrelease/policyreleasing/201602/20160201251488.shtml, last accessed: 16 September 2015.

  7. 7.

    Ibid.

  8. 8.

    Wanda Website (26 July 2012), “Wanda’s AMC Purchase Approved”, http://www.wanda-group.com/2012/latestnews_0726/144.html, last accessed: 11 October 2013.

  9. 9.

    Elizabeth Broomhall, “International Firms Aim to Cash in on Chinese Companies’ Appetite for Outbound M&A Deals”, Legal Week, 2013, 15(25), 4.

  10. 10.

    Shruti Date Singh & Bradley Olson, “Smithfield Receives U.S. Approval for Biggest Chinese Takeover”, Bloomberg, 7 September 2013, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-06/smithfield-receives-u-s-regulator-approval-for-shuanghui-deal.html, last accessed: 12 October 2013.

  11. 11.

    Ministry of Commerce (18 January 2016), “Official of the Department of Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce Comments on China’s Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation in 2015”, http://english.MOFCOM.gov.cn/article/newsrelease/policyreleasing/201602/20160201251488.shtml, last accessed: 16 September 2015.

  12. 12.

    OECD (2008), OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment (4th edition). In 1983, the OECD adopted a new “Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment”, in which adopted a set of rules to improve statistical measures of foreign direct investment. With the continuing reform of international economic situation, in 2008 OECD adopted the 4th edition of Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment.

  13. 13.

    IMF (1993), Balance of Payments Manuel, Part XVIII.

  14. 14.

    OECD (2008), OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment (4th edition).

  15. 15.

    UN Global Compact, “Our Strategy”, https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/strategy, last accessed: 12 December 2016.

  16. 16.

    Ibid.

  17. 17.

    UNCTAD (2012), World Investment Report 2012, Chap. IV.

  18. 18.

    Ibid.

  19. 19.

    MOFCOM, issued date: 16 March 2009, came into effect: 1 May 2009, repealed.

  20. 20.

    MOFCOM, issued date: 26 August 2010.

  21. 21.

    MOFCOM, issued date: 6 September 2014, came into effect: 6 October 2014.

  22. 22.

    NDRC Web site, http://en.ndrc.gov.cn/mfndrc/, last accessed: 14 October 2013.

  23. 23.

    No. 21 [2004] of the Order of the National Development and reform Commission, issued date: 9 October 2004, effective date: 9 October 2004, repealed.

  24. 24.

    No. 9 [2014] of the Order of the National Development and Reform Commission, issued date: 8 April 2014, effective date: 8 May 2014.

  25. 25.

    Interim Measures for the Supervision and Administration of State-Owned Assets of the Enterprises, promulgation date: 27 May 2003, effective date: 27 May 2003, revised date: 8 January 2011. According to Article 13, the main duties of SASAC are: performing the investor’s duties and protecting the owner’s rights and interests in accordance with the Company Law of the People’s Republic of China and other laws and regulations; directing and promoting the reform and restructuring of the state-owned and state-controlling enterprises; dispatching the board of supervisors to the contributed enterprises pursuant to the provisions; appointing and removing, and assessing the principals of the contributed enterprises pursuant to the statutory procedures, and awarding or punishing them according to the assessment results; supervising the value maintaining and increase of the state-owned assets in enterprises through the methods of statistics and auditing, etc.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., Article 6.

  27. 27.

    Promulgation date: 18 August 2008, effective date: 1 October 2008.

  28. 28.

    Promulgation date: 18 March 2012, effective date: 1 May 2012.

  29. 29.

    Company Law, promulgation date: 29 December 1993, effective date: 1 July 1994. Revised date: 27 October 2005 and 28 December 2013, effective date: 1 March 2014. Securities Law, promulgation date: 29 December 1998, effective date: 1 July 1999. Revised date: 27 October 2005 and 31 August 2014, effective date: 31 August 2014.

  30. 30.

    Letter No. 72 [2009] of the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce, issued date: 20 May 2009.

  31. 31.

    Ibid.

  32. 32.

    Ibid., Point II.

  33. 33.

    MOFCOM, issued date: 26 August 2010.

  34. 34.

    Ibid., Point II.

  35. 35.

    Rachel Harvey, “Burma dam: Why Myitsone Plan is Being Halted”, BBC News, 30 September 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15123833, last access: 12 October 2016.

  36. 36.

    Mitra Taj, Marco Aquino (reporting), Leslie Adler (editing), “Police Clash with Opponents of $1.4 bln Copper Mine in Peru”, Reuter, 24 March 2015, http://www.reuters.com/article/peru-copper-protests-idUSL2N0WQ27O20150324, last access: 12 October 2016.

  37. 37.

    Shang He Han (2013) No. 74, Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People’s Republic of China, issued date: February 18, 2013. Article 1.

  38. 38.

    Ibid., Article 3.

  39. 39.

    Ibid., Article 4.

  40. 40.

    Ibid., Article 5.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., Article 14.

  42. 42.

    Ibid., Article 18.

  43. 43.

    Ibid., Article 19.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., Article 20.

  45. 45.

    Ibid., Article 21.

  46. 46.

    China Banking Regulatory Commission, issued date: 24 February 2012, effective date: 24 February 2012. Article 21.

  47. 47.

    The Social Responsibility Committee of the Chinese Electronics Standardization Association (2012).

  48. 48.

    Ibid., Preface.

  49. 49.

    Ibid.

  50. 50.

    China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters, October 2014.

  51. 51.

    Ibid., Chap. I.

  52. 52.

    Ibid.

  53. 53.

    Ibid., Chap. II.

  54. 54.

    Ibid., Article 2.3.

  55. 55.

    Ibid., Forward.

  56. 56.

    Ibid.

  57. 57.

    The China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers & Exporters, issued date: 2 December 2015.

  58. 58.

    Ibid., “About these Guidelines”.

  59. 59.

    Ibid., Part III.

  60. 60.

    Ibid., Part V.

  61. 61.

    Ibid., Part VII.

  62. 62.

    Ibid., “About these Guidelines”.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, University of Greenwich, London, UK

    Jing Bian

  2. London, UK

    Frank Marchione

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  1. Jing Bian
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Correspondence to Jing Bian .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. SOAS, University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Jing Bian

  2. Trakya University, Edirne, Turkey

    Kıymet Tunca Çalıyurt

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Bian, J., Marchione, F. (2018). Business Ethics and Chinese Overseas Investment. In: Bian, J., Çalıyurt, K. (eds) Regulations and Applications of Ethics in Business Practice. Accounting, Finance, Sustainability, Governance & Fraud: Theory and Application. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8062-3_12

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