On 30 June, Imogen Liu and Adam Dixon presented research findings from recent fieldwork to Beijing and Hong Kong on Chinese state capital to more than 70 staff of the European Commission.
Dixon and Liu were invited by DG ECFIN, with representatives from several other DGs present, including FINSMA and TRADE among others. This research is part of the ERC-funded SWFsEUROPE project hosted by FASoS.
The presentation discussed recent field research in China to open the black box of Chinese state-owned foreign investment through sovereign wealth funds which has become an issue of increasing significance in Europe. The presentation provided contextualisation of the political-administrative complex driving overseas investment financing within China, illustrating two differential approaches of Chinese foreign investment, one through state-owned enterprises (SOEs) directly administered by the central government, and one through sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) – specifically the China Investment Corporation. The presentation concluded with a discussion of how SOEs and SWFs are likely to respond to Beijing’s priority policies such as Made in China 2025 and the Belt and Road Initiative going forward in the wake of COVID-19. The presentation also explored whether the investment policy of Chinese SWFs has changed following COVID-19. The topic presented is related to DG ECFIN D3’s policy work on investment transparency within the G20 and on the role played by SWFs in global economic governance as well as in the COVID-19 crisis handling.
