Chaired by Ian Bremmer and Fareed Zakaria, the Gramercy Round convenes over dinner in New York's historic Gramercy Tavern to consider issues which have received insufficient attention from the established foreign policy community but which have a direct impact on the peace and prosperity of the United States. The Round meets to discuss questions with an eye to promoting realistic assessments and innovative approaches for American policy.
Harry Harding
China is increasingly "going global." As part of a state policy to secure markets, technology and resources abroad, Chinese firms--primarily its largest state-owned enterprises--are making direct investments overseas and signing long-term contracts to acquire key natural resources from foreign producers. The numbers are still relatively small (a total of stock of less than $40 billion by the end of 2004) but they are expected to grow rapidly.
China's outbound foreign investment represents the beginning of a second stage in China's strategy of relying on integration with the global economy to promote its economic development. The earlier stage was one of "bringing in"--what the Chinese called kaifang, or "opening." Foreign investors were invited to establish operations in China while Beijing sought to create the international environment that would facilitate its access to foreign markets, capital and technology. This meant China adopted an omnidirectional foreign policy, in which it sought to reduce tensions with virtually every potential trade and investment partner; it also meant Beijing was willing to join existing international institutions (such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organization) and to accept "rules of the game" written primarily by the United States.
