It is clear that China has emerged as a key investment actor in the current global milieu. What is not so clear is why this is so. This paper adds an historical perspective to the state capital story by examining China’s trade and investment patterns through a longitudinal lens. The paper outlines the emergence of...

Greens Senator Rachel Siewert claims China and the US would not allow a foreign government to buy 1 million hectares of land.

The growing size and significance of investments by Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), especially those of rapidly growing Asian economies, are having a profound impact on the dynamics of markets across the world. Better understanding global state investment capital is an increasingly important strategic priority for governments, regulators, finance sector participants and...

Dr Emerson, Minister for Trade and Competitiveness and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Asian Century, launched Feeding the Future - A Joint Australia-China Report on Strengthening Investment and Technological Cooperation in Agriculture to Enhance Food Security on 20 December 2012. The report marks a new era in agricultural cooperation between the two countries.

International investment agreements in bilateral treaties or free trade agreements allow investors to bring compensation claims when their investments are hurt by new regulations addressing environmental or other social concerns. Compensation rules such as expropriation clauses in international treaties help solve post-investment moral hazard problems such as hold-ups, thereby helping to prevent inefficient over-regulation and...