How far will China's expansion bids go

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-17 13:19

"China Inc" Risk?

Sutherland said one of the main risks to these state companies is that they are perceived as being vehicles for "China Inc."

"How to break these perceptions? There is simply no easy way to mitigate these risks, other than perhaps being more upfront about them," he said.

"Constantly refuting the links with the state and government does not necessarily help, in fact it only hinders the process, creating an impression of dishonesty in the eyes of many observers," he said.

The Chinese government started to encourage domestic enterprise to invest abroad in 2000. In 2008, direct outbound investment by Chinese enterprises reached US$52.1 billion, up 96.7 percent year-on-year.

In April, China unveiled an investment guidebook to help domestic firms make foreign investment. In the following month, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange publicized a draft regulation aiming to simplify examination and approval procedures for domestic companies' investment abroad to solicit public opinion.

Economists agree that the Chinalco debacle illustrates how the financial crisis has severely affected Western transnational corporations and their profits and many have large debts they cannot service.

"This is a window of opportunity for China's national champions. But China should realize that even with the support of the state banking sector, even with the damage the global financial crisis has inflicted on Western business, China cannot expect to implement its investment strategy unopposed," Prof. Yao said.

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