Suchergebnisse

China has worked with Russia to formulate a strategic partnership in the post–Cold War era to counter US containment and make the world order "more reasonable" and "fairer." China has synchronized its military collaboration with Russia to modernize the once obsolete People's Liberation Army (PLA) in pursuit of these objectives. The partnership and the modernization of the PLA reveal China's preparedness for US military intervention in Taiwan and the South China Sea and for the power transition triggered by China's ascent at the systemic (global) level. This reflects China's intention to attain two goals: the first, to safeguard its territorial sovereignty particularly over the South China Sea, which has been in escalating disputes since US adoption of the strategies of "pivot to Asia" and "free navigation operations"; and the second, to protect China's dream of national rejuvenation and reemergence as a great power from being interrupted by foreign intervention.

AbstractChina has been committed to creating an 'all weather' relationship with Africa particularly since the new century by persistently expanding its economic, political and, more recently, security involvement in Africa. China's intensified peacekeeping efforts in Africa reveals not only China's desire for maintaining the regional peace and stability for its economic cooperation and trade with Africa, but also China's strategic intention of creating its own sphere of influence in the forms of Sino‐African 'Community of Common Destiny'. In so doing, China wishes to cement its relations with Africa that it identifies, together with those with other developing nations, as the 'basis of China's international relations' and provide itself with a safe access to African markets, resources and investment destinations in order to sustain its economic growth that bases its long cherished dream of restoring its past glory of 'Fuqiang' (wealth and power) and rise in the global power hierarchy.

Australia welcomes foreign investment, including in agriculture. Foreign investment in rural and agribusinesses can help boost agricultural production, enhance operational efficiency and facilitate technological cooperation, thus contributing to long-term food security in Australia. Since 2007, coinciding with surging food prices in the global market, there has been a remarkable increase in foreign investment in Australia's agricultural sector. Among these recent foreign buyers, Chinese investors have received great attention from both the political and public spheres. The aim of this study is to investigate the motives and strategies underlying Chinese agricultural investment in Australia, thus advancing understanding of the driving forces behind China's increasing appetite for Australia's agricultural resources and productions. Focusing on state-firm interactions, the paper seeks to advance a political economic approach to comprehend the implications of government policy for the decision making of Chinese MNEs in their overseas acquisition. Towards this aim, an analytical framework is formulated by synthesizing both mainstream FDI theories and Chinese MNEs studies, drawing on these, hypotheses are proposed and variables identified. Both home and host country statistics and firm case studies have been collected and analysed to determine the key attributes and discuss the pattern and strategy of China's agricultural engagement in Australia. Drawing on the both macro and micro evidence, the paper contends that Chinese agricultural investment in Australia has been chiefly resource-seeking motivated and export oriented. In essence, Chinese MNEs' ability to capitalise on agricultural and rural engagement in Australia is highly dependent on their performance at home and their home base to serve as a market for their overseas production. Moreover, the study confirms that China's foreign engagement in the agricultural sector, and its expansion in Australia, have been strongly influenced by the Chinese government and government policy. Building on the in-depth analysis of China's food security and foreign agricultural investment policy, the paper concludes that to advance its nation's food self-sufficiency has been the key objective for the Chinese Government to support Chinese MNEs' foreign agricultural engagement, including outward FDI. As a proportion, Chinese agricultural investment makes up only a fraction of the total foreign investment in Australian agriculture. However, its rapid growth over the past two years has attracted much public attention and led to heated debate in Australia's political arena and the Australian media. Specifically, the concern has been largely provoked by the strong presence of Chinese SOEs in China's outward FDI, especially when it involves large sects of agricultural farm land and water acquisitions. The results of this study shed some light on this particular issue, through presenting and examining five significant Chinese agricultural investment projects in Australia. When firms' ownership is considered, a diverse mix has been provided for study. As revealed in the case studies, no significant effect of state ownership was found in the decision making process of Chinese SOEs when pursing FDI in Australia's agriculture sector, with regards to entry mode choice and integration strategy in particular. Undeniably, constrained by the limited source of data, these observations are not able to reflect the comprehensive view of government involvement in Chinese MNEs' decision making process of FDI in Australia's agricultural sector. However, at the very least, the evidence gathered in this research provokes some thought on the applicability of the "state ownership" approach that politicians and media have been concerned about when Chinese investment issue is discussed.