Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The politics of hosting Chinese investment in Europe—an introduction

  • Introduction
  • Published:
Asia Europe Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Though still a small percentage of the total stock of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) present in European countries, FDI coming from China has risen dramatically in the European Union (EU) since 2009. This introduction to the special issue on “The Politics of Hosting Chinese Investment in Europe” examines the political fears aroused by this recent surge and by the prospect of continued Chinese direct investment in European economies. After surveying patterns of Chinese investment in the EU, this introduction asks what is distinctive about the potential economic and political consequences of Chinese FDI and lays out the argument for and against treating Chinese FDI as sui generis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Since 2012, the EFSF has been known as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) (Gocaj and Meunier 2013)

  2. Comparison with OECD-only investors and basing judgments on other data sources (e.g. OECD FDI statistics), one sees a very similar portrait (not shown but available upon request).

  3. NACE is the acronym for “Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne.”

  4. The questions are asked in the Eurobarometer survey 73.4, carried- out in May 2010 (Eurobarometer 2011) in all 27 EU member states and including the question (QD1.13): “Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: The EU and China have the same interests when dealing with globalization”. Answers were on a 1–4 scale and for our purposes were recoded as follows: 1 = totally disagree; 2 = tend to disagree; 3 = tend to agree; 4 = totally agree).

  5. See Burgoon and Raess 2014, this issue, for discussion of this and other survey questions on European attitudes towards China (Burgoon and Raess 2014).

References

  • Bases D (2013) EU cites Chinese telecoms Huawei and ZTE for trade violations. Reuters, 18May

  • Bordet M (2011) La Chine rachète l'europe. Le Point, 22 September

  • Burgoon B, Raess D (2014) Chinese investment and European labor: should (and do) workers fear Chinese FDI? Asia Eur J. doi:10.1007/s10308-014-0378-6

    Google Scholar 

  • A Capital, 2012. A Capital Dragon Index. [Online] Available at: http://www.acapital.hk/milestones.php

  • A Capital, 2013. ODI accelerates by 14 % in 2012 while FDI drops with 4 %. [Online] Available at: http://www.acapital.hk/dragonindex/A_CAPITAL_DRAGON_INDEX_FY_2012_ENG.pdf

  • A Capital Dragon Index, 2012. ODI accelerates by 67 % in Q2 2012. [Online] Available at: http://www. acapital.hk/dragonindex/

  • Clegg J, Voss H (2012) Chinese overseas direct investment in the European Union. Europe China Research and Advice. Network, London

    Google Scholar 

  • de Montalembert G, Roquelle S (2011) Quand la Chine rachète le monde. Le Figaro, 28 January

  • Central and Eastern Europe Development Institute (2012) Partners or Rivals? Chinese Investment in Central and Eastern Europe, s.l.: s.n

  • Edwards N (2012) China Q1 outbound investments at $21.4 bln -study. Reuters, 7 June

  • Fichtner N, von Buttlar H, Maupile D (2013) Der lange Marsch durch Deutschland. Capital 6:31–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Figlio D, Blonigen B (2000) The Effects of Direct Foreign Investment on Local Communities. NBER Working Paper, Volume, 7274

    Google Scholar 

  • Geitner P (2012) China, Amid Uncertainty at Home and in Europe, Looks to Germany. The New York Times, 22 April

  • Gocaj L, Meunier S (2013) Time will tell: the EFSF, the ESM, and the Euro Crisis. J Eur Integr 35(3):239–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Godement F, Parello-Plesner J (2011) The scramble for Europe. European Council on Foreign Relations, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham E, Krugman P (1995) Foreign Direct Investment in the United States. s.l.:Institute for International Economics

  • Graham E, Marchik D (2006) US National Security and Foreign Direct Investment. s.l.:Peterson Institute for International Economics

  • Hanemann T (2012a) Building a Global Portfolio: What China Owns Abroad. [Online] Available at: http://rhgroup.net/notes/building-a-global-portfolio-what-china-owns-abroad

  • Hanemann T (2012b) Chinese FDI in the United States: Q4 2011 Update, s.l.: The Rhodium Group

  • Hanemann T (2012c) How Europe Should Respond to Growing Chinese Investment. ESharp, 5 September

  • Hanemann T (2013) The EU-China Investment Relationship: From a One-Way to a Two-Way Street. New Europe, 28 January

  • Hanemann T (2014) Chinese direct investment in Europe and the USA: a comparative view. Asia Eur J. doi:10.1007/s10308-014-0379-5

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanemann, T. & Lysenko, A., 2012. The Employment Impacts of Chinese Investment in the United States. [Online] Available at: http://rhgroup.net/articles/the-employment-impacts-of-chinese-investment-in-theunited-states

  • Hanemann T, Rosen D. H (2012) China Invests in Europe: Patterns, Impacts and Policy Implications, s.l.: The Rhodium Group International Monetary Fund, 1993. Balance of Payments Manual (BPM5), s.l.: s.n

  • International Monetary Fund, 1993. Balance of Payments Manual (BPM5), s.l.: s.n

  • Jacoby W (2014) Different cases, different faces: Chinese investment in Central and Eastern Europe. Asia Eur J. doi:10.1007/s10308-014-0380-z

    Google Scholar 

  • Knapp J, Meunier S (2012) Coming to America: Top Ten Factors Driving Chinese Foreign Direct Investment. The Huffington Post, 31 July

  • L'Express (2011) Comment la Chine envahit l'Europe. 4 February

  • Martinez A (2012) CIC Stops Buying Europe Government Debt on Crisis Concern. Bloomberg, 10 May

  • Meunier S (2014a) Beggars Can't Be Choosers: The European Crisis and Chinese Direct Investment in the European Union. J Eur Integr. doi:10.1080/07036337.2014.885754

  • Meunier S (2014b) A Faustian bargain or just a good bargain? Chinese foreign direct investment and politics in Europe. Asia Eur J. doi:10.1007/s10308-014-0382-x

    Google Scholar 

  • Millner C (2012) Beijing sets its sights on Central Europe. Der Spiegel, 18May

  • Moran T, Oldenski L (2013) Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: Benefits, Suspicions, and Risks with Special Attention to FDI from China. s.l.:Peterson Institute for International Economics

  • OECD, 2013. FDI in Figures. [Online] Available at: http://www.oecd.org/daf/inv/investment-policy/ FDIinFiguresJuly2013.pdf

  • Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2008) OECD Benchmark for Foreign Direct investment-Fourth Edition, s.l.: s.n

  • Pandya SS (2014) Trading Spaces: The Political Economy of Foreign Direct Investment Regulation, 1970–2000. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Parello-Plesner J (2012) China and Europe in the Eurocrisis, s.l.: Testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission Hearing on the China-Europe Relationship and Transatlantic Implications

  • Perrigueur E, Martinière M (2012) Comment la Chine rachète la Grèce. La Tribune, 23 July

  • Pew Global Attitudes Project, 2013. America’s Global Image Remains More Positive than China’s. 18 July

  • Pu J, Shen H, Qu Y (2012) Chinese Investors Find European Luster MixedWith Risk. Caixin, 9 October

  • Rapoza K (2012) China Companies Inching Into Europe. Forbes, 10 June

  • Servan-Schreiber J.-J (1968) The American Challenge. s.l.:Scribner

  • The Economist (2010) China buys up the world. The Economist, 11 November

  • The Economist (2012) Who’s afraid of Huawei?. The Economist, 4 August

  • Valli R (2012) Italian Entrepreneurs Turn to Chinese for Help. Voice of America, 14 September

  • Xinhua (2012) China's best way to aid EU is expanding direct investment. Xinhua, 19 September

  • Xu T, Petersen, T. & Wang T (2012) Cash in Hand: Chinese Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S. and Germany, s.l.: Bertelsmann

  • Zhang H, Van Den Bulcke D (2014) China’s direct investment in the European Union: a new regulatory challenge? Asia Eur J. doi:10.1007/s10308-014-0383-9

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the participants to the workshops “The Politics of Hosting Chinese Direct Investment in Europe” held at the University of Amsterdam in June 2012 and at Princeton University in November 2012, as well as two reviewers, for their useful comments. We dedicate this Special Issue to the memory of Daniel van den Bulcke.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Sophie Meunier

  2. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Brian Burgoon

  3. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA

    Wade Jacoby

Authors
  1. Sophie Meunier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Brian Burgoon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wade Jacoby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sophie Meunier.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Meunier, S., Burgoon, B. & Jacoby, W. The politics of hosting Chinese investment in Europe—an introduction. Asia Eur J 12, 109–126 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-014-0381-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-014-0381-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation