Exports of Foreign Direct Investment from China: Global Trends and New Old Normality

Over the past 8 years China has been steadily holding the position in the top three global leaders of outward foreign direct investments (OFDI). Implementing the “Go Out” policy the Chinese government achieves the complex objectives of development of the national socio-economic system that is especially important in the process of its current transformation. As a major player in the capital market, China enters into complex relationships with global capital market megatrends, being influenced by them on the one hand and taking part in their formation on the other. This paper reveals the main long-term global trends in the movement of foreign direct investment such as stagnation of global investment, deglobalization and regionalization of world capital markets, restructuring of international production and global value chains and also increased investment in sustainable development goals. The study assesses the extent to which local trends of outward direct investment in the PRC are influenced by these global processes. The paper also analyzes the response of the PRC government to modern challenges provoked by the global pandemic and concludes that OFDI trends in modern conditions are sustainable. In conclusion, the forecast for the direct investment movement in the world and China in a post-COVID world is given.