China Goes Out: Investing Overseas

Abstract

In recent years, the term ‘made-in-China’ has become a symbol of China’s involvement in economic globalisation (Chapter 2). China’s openness since its economic reforms started in the late 1970s has led many transnational corporations (TNCs) to select China as one of the major destinations to which manufacturing facilities are relocated (Pearson 1999; Weidenbaum 1996). Both the scale and the impact of this openness to investment have been significant. China became the world’s second largest FDI receipt nation by the mid-1990s (Sun 1998; Zhan 1995). Foreign-funded enterprises have played a catalytic role in the process of opening China’s economy, contributing about half of China’s foreign trade since the mid-1990s (Economy and Oksenberg 1999). By 1999, China held over $US15 billion in foreign exchange reserves (the second largest in the world).