This introduction outlines some of the more influential academic studies on Chinese investment abroad, including the existing quantitative literature on Chinese outbound direct investment (ODI). It introduces a case study from Australia involving state-owned mining conglomerate Chinalco, and the fallout from its failed bid for a share in Rio Tinto. The study confounds many of stereotypes about the behaviour of the Chinese central state. We go on to suggest frameworks developed in the study of China’s domestic political economy that may be useful in analyzing the behaviour of Chinese state and non-state actors abroad. Such frameworks can help in understanding how Chinese investors develop informal institutions, and make use of existing formal institutions, to “get things done” in unfamiliar investment environments.
前言：中國投資的全球視角
本文介紹一些在中國海外投資方面很有影響的學術研究，其中包括現有的關於中國海外直接投資的定量研究文獻。本文還介紹了中國國有集團中國鋁業公司在澳大利亞收購力拓失敗的案例。本項研究質疑了許多關於中國中央政權行為的刻板印象， 並建議在對中國國內政治濟研究中建立起的框架可以被用於分析中國的國家和非國家行為者在海外的行為。該框架可以幫助我們了解中國投資者如何開發出非正式體制並在陌生的投資環境中充分利用現有的正式體制“把事情辦成”。
Translated from English by Xin Huang
Graeme Smith