Research on the Risk of China's Direct Investment in Five Central Asian Countries Against the Background of "the Belt and Road Initiative"

Because of its unique geographical location and abundant natural resources, the five central Asian countries 1 have become important destinations for Chinese enterprises' OFDI. China's investment in the region also shows the characteristics of expanding scale, mainly state-owned enterprises and concentration in the energy and mineral sectors. Through the risk evaluation and analysis of five central Asian countries, this paper finds that political risk, legal risk, economic risk, risk of policy shift and social and cultural risk are the main risks facing Chinese enterprises in central Asia, and the causes of the risks can be attributed to the theory of resource plunder, unfair competition theory and national security threat theory. In order to protect the interests of Chinese enterprises in foreign investment, it is necessary to mobilize the participation of the state, society, industry and enterprises, and take corresponding countermeasures against different types of risks. Keywords—the Belt and Road Initiative; the five central Asian countries; direct investment; risk categories