This book examines the political role of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) under Xi Jinping’s latest round of reforms and how this shapes their investment activities abroad. Focusing on investment in advanced economies, with Australia as a central case study, it explores how closer alignment between SOEs and state policy affects foreign direct investment and raises challenges for host countries balancing economic interests with national security concerns.

The analysis draws on a wide range of primary sources, including Chinese laws, regulations, policy documents, and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rules. Given that many of these materials are difficult to access and interpret, the book provides clear explanations based on close reading and contextual understanding of China’s political and economic system.

It also includes original data presented in tables and figures, covering topics such as the direction of SOE reforms, links between state policy and overseas investment, and the operation of Australia’s foreign investment review framework. The book further considers how existing legal tools, both domestic and international, can respond to the risks associated with politically connected investment.
The core argument is that recent reforms have strengthened political control over SOEs, with implications for how they operate internationally. This has practical consequences for governments and businesses engaging with Chinese firms, particularly in sensitive sectors.

Overall, the book provides a grounded and evidence-based account of contemporary Chinese SOEs and their global role, offering useful insights for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working on international investment, economic security, and China’s political economy.

Tianqi Gu is an Assistant Professor at the Global Institute for Intellectual Property and the School of Law, Nanjing University, a member of China’s prestigious C9 League.

She received her PhD from Sydney Law School, The University of Sydney, an LLM in International Commercial Law from University College London, a second LLM from Sydney Law School, and an LLB from Dalian Maritime University in China.

Her research lies at the intersection of Chinese corporate governance, State-owned enterprise reform, international economic law, and foreign investment regulation. She was the sole recipient of the Australian Government’s Research Training Program scholarship at Sydney Law School in the past decade, in recognition of the academic merit and practical significance of her work.

This book has attracted interest from scholars working in Chinese law, Asian commercial law, comparative corporate governance, and international economic law. Parts of the research have been presented at leading academic conferences hosted by internationally recognised institutions.

A previous version of Chapter 6, titled The National Security Explanation of Chinese State-owned Enterprises’ Foreign Investment into Developed Countries, was presented at the Conference on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies on 28 October 2022. Sections 6.1 and 6.2 of Chapter 6 were presented in a sole-authored paper, China’s Strategic Investments and the Evolution of Foreign Investment Regulatory Regimes in Asian Developed Countries: The Role of National Security, at the 20th Annual Conference of the Asian Law Institute, hosted by the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, on 31 May 2023. Section 8.2.2 of Chapter 8, titled The SOE Chapter of the CPTPP: An Effective Way to Regulate Chinese SOEs’ Foreign Direct Investments?, was presented at the Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law in March 2023.