Unlocking the Quandary: Towards Embedding Sustainable Development into the Sino Outbound FDIs

Abstract

Irrefutably, China has transformed into a key capital exporter especially to the developing African countries profoundly from the year 2000 and while her outbound investments are laudable for the positive impact they have had, qualm is also ubiquitous that they do not portend sustainable development. Perceptibly, the notion of sustainable development strives for an infallible balance between economic development, ecological protection and conservation as well as social development and in the contemporary world; it has wielded magical legislative and juridical support. Consequently, both the domestic and international policy instruments have largely courted its presence and moreover, the concept also permeated the foreign direct investments’ turf. Ideally, foreign direct investments may only be sustainable if they are wholly reflective of what the notion propagates, that is, if they attain a balance between economic and social development while simultaneously protecting and conserving the environment. Contextually, this paper seeks to interrogate whether or not the notion of sustainable development is fully embedded into the Sino outbound investments and if not, offer suggestions on how the same may be ingrained.  In a nutshell, the paper contends that China is generally in the right path towards full implantation of the notion in her outbound FDIs. Nevertheless, there still exists an avalanche of legal impediments that must be surmounted before the objective is fully achieved. The paper also opines that the developing capital importing countries also have a role to play in this course as the burden cannot be solely left to China to bear.

Keywords: Sustainable Development; Foreign Direct Investments; Chinese Outbound Investments; Bilateral Investment Treaties