Going Global 2.0: China's Growing Investment in the West and Its Impact

From 1978 to roughly 1990, China focused on "bringing in" foreign direct investment. After 1990 it began "going out" in earnest as part of its new diplomacy. Between 1990 and 2005, China's outbound investment was concentrated in the developing world. Since 2005, China has expanded its overseas investment to the developed world, and in recent years such activities have accelerated. This qualitative transformation of China's global business expansion is taking place as China is poised to overtake the United States to become the world's largest economy. What explains China's new wave of global investment? How will it affect international political economy? What challenges do China's businesses face in the West? Through empirical analysis, this study examines the rationale, strategies, and impact of China's growing investment in the West. KEYWORDS: going global, outward direct investment (ODI), China's relations with the West, new diplomacy, international political economy, international order.