Experts: Greater role for nation would help Chinese firms' expansion in global economy
China should increase its influence on the drafting and establishment of global investment rules to help promote cross-border investment and facilitate further expansion by Chinese companies, experts said on Friday.
China exceeded the United States to become the world's largest recipient of FDI in the first six months of 2012, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, or UNCTAD, said in a report in October.
Commerce Minister Chen Deming said in late December that FDI flowing to China will reach $110 billion in 2012. Meanwhile, the non-financial ODI of China, the world's fifth-largest nation in terms of outbound investment, will surpass $70 billion in 2012.
"In view of China's position in global investment, the country should play a bigger role in establishing global investment rules," said Sun Zhenyu, chairman of China Society for World Trade Organization Studies on Friday.
"China's combined ODI, taking into account financial ODI, surpassed the country's FDI in 2012," said Sun, also China's former ambassador to the WTO.
Trade and investment protectionism is growing amid the sluggish world economy, but the world "does not have an exclusive mechanism of global investment, as the WTO oversees global trade", he added.
"In addition to some provisions by the WTO, global investment rules are mainly based on bilateral investment agreements while many obstacles, such as national security, which have no clear definition, can be abused, posing a challenge to global investment."
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