Strategies for China’s Response to and Improvement of Third-Party Funding in International Investment Arbitration

China should prioritize the establishment and enhancement of a third-party funding system.It should actively refine the existing arbitration rules,addressing any loopholes in the current regulatory framework.Comprehensive measures should be implemented to regulate third-party funding,aligning with international trends.This is crucial not only to safeguard the foreign investment of the Chinese government and enterprises but also to position China as a globally influential arbitration center.

China, the G20 and the International Investment Regime

China has become a major home country for outward foreign direct investment （OFDI） flows. As a result, the country is increasingly concerned with protecting its OFDI and facilitating the operations of its firms investing abroad and creating a strong universal international investment law and policy regime. This article briefly reviews the emergence of China as an outward investor. It continues with an analysis of some policy issues related to the rise of FDIfrom emerging markets. A brief discussion of issues central to the future of the international investment law and policy regime follows, before focusing on several outcomes that could be pursued under China＇s G20 leadership： non- binding shared principles that could outline the architecture of a universal framework on international investment; an international support program for sustainable investment facilitation; and the creation of an additional intergovernmental platform that would allow for a continued systematic intergovernmental process to discuss the range of issues related to the governance of international investment, preferably paralleled by an informal, inclusive and result-oriented consensus-building process that takes place outside intergovernmental settings.

Gearing Up for the Fair——Promoters are attracting overseas attention to the upcoming annual international investment and trade fair in Xiamen,southeast China

Among Chinese men who wear suits and shirts, few are unfamiliar with Youngor, one of the most famous garment brands in China. When it was founded in 1979, the Youngor Group, based in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, was just a private factory with a few hundred workers. Now it has grown into a leading company in China's garment industry, with more than 20,000 employees and net assets of over 5 billion yuan. It ranks 144th among China's top 500 enterprises. Zhong Leiming, Chief Supervisor of the group, and Yu Cheng, Manager of the Publicity Department, discussed the company's operating strategy in a recent interview with Beijing Review.

18th China International Fair for Investment & Trade

ANY country with an international airport is at risk of Ebola virus infection. Thisis the somber warning from the World Health Organization （WHO） in the wake of the deadly epidemic that now has the world on the edge of its collec- tive seat. With the widespread infection of Ebola virus reported in West Africa, interna- tional cooperation has become essential to prevent the expansion of this terrible disease. The WHO has declared the outbreak to be ＂a public health emergency of international concern＂ and recommended that countries take measures to prevent the spread of the virus, most notably by strengthening surveillance at airports,issuing travel advisories and raising awareness about the disease and its preven- tion.

Analysis on the Motivations,Experiences,and Lessons of Chinese Enterprises'Overseas Investment

With the economic globalization,increasing numbers of Chinese entrepreneurs have taken an interest in international investments and acquisitions in order to expand their business territories around the world.Based on various motivations for international investments,this paper analyzed the challenges faced by Wanda,Fuyao Glass,and Fosun in regard to different business backgrounds and models,cultural concepts,as well as the changing global political and economic environments in addition to summarizing their experiences and lessons from international investments.

Cluster Analysis in the Target Countries of China＇s International Oil Investment

China＇s oil demand has been skyrocketed. In 2004 China became the world＇s second largest oil consumer and imported 122.7 million tons of crude oil, which accounted for 41.9% of China＇s crude oil consumption. International oil investment becomes an important channel for China to obtain oil resource. The cluster analysis in the target countries of China＇s international oil investment is studied here. An investment environment model incorporating 9 factors is established firstly, the order of these factors is ranked by their importance. Then the weight of such factors is determined by Analytic Hierarchy Process （AHP） and these countries are classified into 3 categories using cluster analysis. The results provide an important decision-making tool for China＇s international oil investment.

Capacity Building-Oriented Cooperation between China and BRI Countries

This paper identifies the international industrial capacity cooperation led by the Chinese government and participated by Chinese companies under the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)as“inclusive industrial capacity cooperation with a capacity-building orientation.”BRI cooperation demonstrates brand-new characteristics compared with previous international direct investments in terms of participants,investment areas and results.BRI cooperation aims to enhance local development capacity,promote economic development,increase exports,and improve industrial ecosystems.In the long run,international industrial capacity cooperation under the BRI helps achieve sustainable development in China and BRI countries for multi-win results.Yet risks and challenges also warrant attention and require countermeasures.

Research on transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industry under the background of reducing capacity

In today＇s economic situation, overcapacity of Chinese traditional manufacturing industry poses a serious threat to sustaineck rapid and healthy development of economy. The primary reasons of excess capacity of Chinese traditional manufacturing industry are the discordant between consumption and investment, the irrational industrial structure, export is not ideal and other causes. Overcapacity of traditional manufacturing industry will lead to business failures, unemployment citizen, deflation, financial risk and other series consequences. We should learn from foreign experience in the processing of excess capacity of traditional manufacturing industry and deal with excess capacity of traditional manufacturing industry in different aspects, so as to ensure stable and healthy development of our country＇ s economy.

In search of currency internationalisation: a perspective from financial openness

This paper examines the role of financial openness for currency internationalisation.We provide a theoretical synthesis on the economic and financial channels that financial openness might affect currency internationalisation.Historical experiences from the UK,the US,Japan and Germany show the essential role played by financial policies to promote one currency’s international status.We collect recent data of a panel of countries to provide an in-depth empirical analysis on how financial openness would affect a currency’s acceptance in international official reserves.We find strong evidence that portfolio positions generally have a larger impact on the currency’s share in international reserves than FDI.Moreover,portfolio positions in the liability side,especially foreign investments in domestic debt securities,have a statistically significant and economically important effect on currency internationalisation.Our results have implications for China,highlighting the specific effects of financial policies on RMB internationalisation.

Finnish-Chinese investment negotiation:power positioning and search for common ground

This article explores what kind of a role‘the rise of China’plays in negotiation and searches for common ground between Finnish and Chinese representatives in the context of Chinese investment,trade and cooperation facilitation initiatives in Finland.The study predominantly builds on the positioning theory,and the data collection methods of this study are interviewing and observation.Five styles of positioning regarding power and common ground are found–adjustment,use of existing common ground,autonomy,‘soft’power and pressure/hedging,the character of which corresponds to phases of Chinese five elements theory(wu xing).While data suggest that both Finnish and Chinese representatives use all these strategies,the trend is that Finnish representatives use active responses such as adjustment and pressure/hedging more,while Chinese representatives more often resort to autonomy stance.A variety of both external and internal factors influencing positioning could also be traced,such as organisational roles in situation,place of meeting,discourses about countries and considerations of‘face’.

China's Large and Rising Net Foreign Asset Position

China＇s emergence as a major player in world trade is well known, but its growing role in global finance might have been underappreciated. China is the second largest creditor in the world today, with a net creditorposition of 30 percent of GDP in 2008. We test the importance of the growth differential, demographics, government debt, financial depth and the exchange rate in shaping China＇s net foreign asset position. Our empirical results highlight the sharp fall in the young-age dependence as one key driver behind China ＇s puzzlingly large net lender position and also confirm the neoclassical prediction that faster growth attracts more capital inflows. Looking ahead, our findings suggest that China will unlikely turn into a meaningful net debtor nation over the next two decades.

China as a Net Creditor： An Indication of Strength or Weaknesses？

China＇s international investment position is characterized by large net foreign assets, a dominance of low-return foreign exchange reserves and costly foreign direct investment in foreign assets and foreign liabilities. In addition, China＇s foreign investment positions are facing potentially large exchange risks. These features reflect entrenched institutional and structural problems in China, including underdeveloped capital markets, biased resource allocation and a defective social security system. China＇s net creditor status might actually be an indication of weakness rather than strength. To improve its international investment position, China must speed up economic reforms and allow the market to play a fundamental role in resource allocation.

Global and Euro Imbalances:China and Germany

We analyze global and euro area imbalances by focusing on China and Germany as large surplus and creditor countries. In the 2000s, domestic reforms expanded the effective labor force, restrained wages, shifted income toward profits and increased corporate saving. As a result, the Chinese and German current account surpluses widened, and that of Germany has proven more persistent, with subdued domestic investment. China is an early-stage creditor, holding a short equity position and a longposition in safe debt. Germany＇s balanced net debt and equity claims mark it as a mature creditor thatprovides insurance to the rest of the world. China pays to lay off equity risk, while Germany, by contrast, harvests a moderate yield on its net claims. In both economies, the shortfall of the net international investment position from cumulated current account surpluses arises from exchange rate changes, asymmetric valuation gains, and, in Germany＇s case, credit losses.

Measuring Net Foreign Assets:The Case of China

This paper discusses two methods of measuring net foreign assets（NFA）： directly using the financial account and indirectly using the current account. The former method is found to be more accurate than the latter method. The paper also includes a detailed discussion of the valuation methodology. The results show that China＇s NFA are much lower than the cumulative current account surplus or the cumulative foreign exchange reserves. This leads to an underestimation of growth in foreign direct investment and an overestimation of the capacity of foreign exchange reserves to cope with possible withdrawals. Therefore, the Chinese Government should pay more attention to valuation issues to obtain more accurate measurement of NFA. Meanwhile, the Chinese monetary authority should relax its control on the foreign exchange settlement system, allow the private sector to hold a certain amount of foreign exchange, and encourage foreign assets to be denominated in RMB to solve structural problems, including entity and currency mismatch

Principles of Burden and Standards of Proof in Investor-state Arbitration

The discretionary decisions can affect the factual conclusions and hence result in unfairness to one party in a particular case.Understanding that tribunals are always bound to conduct the procedure fairly and within the limits of certain public policy,a careful examination of these principles to ensure the tribunals staying in course should be warranted.The development of evidentiary rules in investor-state arbitration is bifurcated.On the one hand,significant development has been made with respect to the rules of the taking of evidence as a result of the practice of international tribunals and by various codification efforts.On the other hand,lack of systematic and concrete rules binding tribunals on the exercises of determination of facts,allocating burden of proof and weighing of probative value of evidence makes the result of fact-finding unpredictable,inconsistent and sometimes even arbitrary.International tribunals have considerable discretion in dealing with presented evidence by applying the evidentiary rules they consider fit.This article reviews the principles relating to burden and standard of proof as reflected in international investor-state arbitration.Significant divergences can be discerned in practice.However,this author does not believe that introducing specific and binding evidentiary rules is a solution,considering the fundamental differences between arbitration and litigation.What the author advocates is the development of some guideline rules to ensure greater certainty,while preserving the flexibility of the arbitral process.The balance aims to achieve a level of"guided flexibility"to reduce uncertainties in factual decisions and to endow the less-experienced tribunals with some guidance.