Bìznes Inform (Dec 2019)
China’s Foreign Direct Investments and Their Influence on the EU Countries
Abstract
Although the EU is generally interested in foreign investment, foreign direct investment (FDI) from China is often of some concern. Despite this, the EU at the present stage of development faces the challenge of reforming its foreign direct investment policy in such a way as to simultaneously achieve the following goals: to protect the EU’s current openness as to FDI (including the China’s); to solve the security problems that arise for some types of FDI; to ensure better openness and a level playing field for European FDI in China. The article is aimed at studying the threats and opportunities that arise from China’s direct foreign investment in the EU and their impact on the entire geographical region. The article analyzes the processes taking place in the mutual relations between the EU and China in the context of foreign direct investment implemented by the chinese part. It is proved that China, by investing in the EU countries, seeks access to: the latest technologies, the European market, the third-country markets (through the European market), the European brands, as well as influence on the political and economic processes at the level of the European region in general. The regional distribution of China’s foreign direct investment to the EU countries is considered. It is determined that the most interesting for chinese investors are the economically powerful countries - Great Britain, France and Germany. As for the regional distribution of direct investment, it is at present relatively uniform. The current tendencies in the change of the EU’s strategic priorities in terms of investment strategy are defined. The threats posed by China’s direct investment in the EU economies are being examined. In this process mainly allocated are the economic and political threats. From an economic point of view, FDI from China can affect the status of competition and generally lead to a redistribution of value, and from a political point of view, to contribute to the spread of China’s influence at the geopolitical level. A list of measures that can be implemented to reduce China’s economic and political influence on the European countries as recipients of direct investment is considered.
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