Untapped Instrument. Sovereign Wealth Funds and Chinese policy toward the Central and Eastern European countries

Although there has been vivid academic debate as to what extent Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) are motivated by political reasons, it is rather clear that countries can use state-owned investment funds as a tool of their foreign policy. Even Barack Obama, during his initial presidential campaign in 2008 commented: “I am obviously concerned if these… sovereign wealth funds are motivated by more than just market consideration and that’s obviously a possibility”. This book looks at SWF activities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to determine the main motives for SWF presence in CEE. Are the potential financial gains the only reason behind their investments? Are SWF activities in the region dangerous for the stability and security of the CEE countries? The book is pioneering analyses of SWFs behaviour in the region, based on empirical data collected from the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute Transaction Database, arguably the most comprehensive and authoritative resource tracking SWF investment behaviour globally.Rozdział pochodzi z książki: Political Players? Sovereign Wealth Funds’ Investments in Central and Eastern Europe, T. Kamiński (ed.), Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2017.This chapter aims at looking at the role of Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) in China’s policy toward Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in the 21st century, especially since the enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004. During this time, we could observe an increase of Chinese interest in the region resulting in growing trade, investments and number of contacts on all levels. China has used a wide array of different instruments to achieve its goals in the region: from a big political project such as the “16+1 format” to an unprecedented frequency of contacts between Chinese provinces and their European counterparts (Kaczmarski, Jakóbowski 2015). Despite a visible growth of economic ties, Beijing presented a very limited will to use investments as a political instrument. Even if Chinese investments in CEE are booming, they are possibly less politically biased and more market-driven than those in other developing countries, like African ones.This book was published in frames of project “Political significance of the Sovereign Wealth Funds’ investments in the Central and Eastern Europe”. The project was financed by the Polish National Science Centre (Decision no. DEC-2012/07/B/HS5/03797)

Introduction

Although there has been vivid academic debate as to what extent Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) are motivated by political reasons, it is rather clear that countries can use state-owned investment funds as a tool of their foreign policy. Even Barack Obama, during his initial presidential campaign in 2008 commented: “I am obviously concerned if these… sovereign wealth funds are motivated by more than just market consideration and that’s obviously a possibility”. This book looks at SWF activities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to determine the main motives for SWF presence in CEE. Are the potential financial gains the only reason behind their investments? Are SWF activities in the region dangerous for the stability and security of the CEE countries? The book is pioneering analyses of SWFs behaviour in the region, based on empirical data collected from the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute Transaction Database, arguably the most comprehensive and authoritative resource tracking SWF investment behaviour globally.Rozdział pochodzi z książki: Political Players? Sovereign Wealth Funds’ Investments in Central and Eastern Europe, T. Kamiński (ed.), Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2017.This book was published in frames of project “Political significance of the Sovereign Wealth Funds’ investments in the Central and Eastern Europe”. The project was financed by the Polish National Science Centre (Decision no. DEC-2012/07/B/HS5/03797)

China's Regional Policy and the Influence of the EU Assistance

Firstly, a short outlook has been given on regional inequalities in China. Secondly, the EU assistance programmes and sectoral dialogue have been analysed. Finally, the major research problem - what are the limitations of the EU's assistance influence on China - has been investigated

Political Significance of Sovereign Wealth Funds

Although there has been vivid academic debate as to what extent Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) are motivated by political reasons, it is rather clear that countries can use state-owned investment funds as a tool of their foreign policy. Even Barack Obama, during his initial presidential campaign in 2008 commented: “I am obviously concerned if these… sovereign wealth funds are motivated by more than just market consideration and that’s obviously a possibility”. This book looks at SWF activities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to determine the main motives for SWF presence in CEE. Are the potential financial gains the only reason behind their investments? Are SWF activities in the region dangerous for the stability and security of the CEE countries? The book is pioneering analyses of SWFs behaviour in the region, based on empirical data collected from the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute Transaction Database, arguably the most comprehensive and authoritative resource tracking SWF investment behaviour globally.Rozdział pochodzi z książki: Political Players? Sovereign Wealth Funds’ Investments in Central and Eastern Europe, T. Kamiński (ed.), Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2017.This book was published in frames of project “Political significance of the Sovereign Wealth Funds’ investments in the Central and Eastern Europe”. The project was financed by the Polish National Science Centre (Decision no. DEC-2012/07/B/HS5/03797)

The Chinese Factor in Developingthe Grand Strategy of the European Union

Published in: "The Quandaries of China’s Domestic and Foreign Development".Dominik Mierzejewski ( Red), Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2014‘Strategic partnership’ with China is often perceived as vague slogan. However, there are some points in which Chinese ‘grand strategy’ is surprisingly coherent with the European strategic vision. Both sides want to develop a multilateral world order, see peace as a precondition of development and focus their policy on non-military means. Both sides have common interests in such areas like the ones presented in this paper: energy security or stability in Africa. If the EU is to have comprehensive, grand strategy, rising China is one of the factors which force the EU to create one. Impossible to omit, difficult to cope with, more and more influential in every sphere of international relations - China seems to be one of the major forces that have an impact on European strategic discourse and strategic choices. That is why ‘Chinese factor’ seems to be crucial for any ‘strategy’ of the EU

Wstęp

Wstęp do książki poświęconej stosunkom politycznym i gospodarczym między Unią Europejską a krajami azjatyckimi.Publikacja została dofinansowana przez Unię Europejską w ramach projektu Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module „Asia as a Challenge for the European Union

Po pierwsze gospodarka. Narzędzia polityki zagranicznej ChRL wobec Unii Europejskiej

Praca naukowa finansowana ze środków na naukę w latach 2010–2013 jako projekt badawczy własny nr N N116 273838. Grant przyznany na podstawie decyzji Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego nr 2738/B/H03/2010/3

Paradiplomacy – Discourse Analysis and Research Conceptualization

The project was finances by the Polish National Science Centre (Agreement No. UMO-2013/11B/HS5/04121)

Państwowe fundusze majątkowe jako instrument polityki zagranicznej Chińskiej Republiki Ludowej

Sovereign wealth funds (SWF) are widely perceived as politically biased, and this paper argues that in China they are not only biased but principally serve as instruments of foreign policy. The text examines ways in which the Chinese use their SWFs, analysing Chinese SWF investments in terms of value as well as geographical and sectoral distribution (on the basis of SWF Institute Transaction Database). Also presented are the methods of SWF use to promote Chinese foreign policy goals: checkbook diplomacy, greater influence, leverage on third countries, access to sensitive information and building a positive image of China in the world

Las inversiones de los fondos soberanos en los paises en desarrollo

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) are potentially important source of capital for developing countries. The objective of this study is to investigate SWFs’ investments in developing countries in order to check whether they really became major players in the development financing of emerging countries. The research is based on the empirical data. The sample consists of 10,446 cross-border transactions catalogued in the years ranging from 2000 and mid-2014, including 1,876 investments in non-OECD countries, valued at USD 108.6 billion. This paper proves that SWFs have not become major players in the development financing of emerging countries. The observations made in this paper strongly confirmed that their investments are mainly focused on advanced markets, because SWFs prefer broad and deep markets instead of small economies. As a result, the majority of developing countries are not able to appeal to SWFs. The results of the research contribute also to the academic discussion about the political motives of SWF investments. The examples of SWFs engaged in some humanitarian or developing initiatives prove that politically biased investments are not necessary harmful and menacing. This observation should be taken into account in the discussion that are overly concentrated on presenting threats behind the political dependency of fundsLos Fondos soberanos de inversión (FSI) son una fuente de capital potencialmente importante para los países en vías de desarrollo. El objetivo de este artículo es profundizar en las inversiones de los fondos soberanos en los países en vías de desarrollo con el fin de comprobar si realmente se convirtieron en los principales actores en la financiación de los países emergentes. La investigación se basa en datos empíricos. La muestra consta de 10.446 transacciones catalogadas transfronterizas entre los años 2000 y mediados de 2014, incluyendo 1.876 inversiones en países no miembros de la OCDE, por valor de 108.600 millones de dólares. Este trabajo demuestra que los fondos soberanos no se han convertido en los principales actores de la financiación para el desarrollo de los países emergentes. Las observaciones realizadas confirman que sus inversiones se centran principalmente en los mercados avanzados, ya que los fondos soberanos prefieren mercados amplios y profundos en lugar de economías pequeñas. Como resultado, la mayoría de los países en vías de desarrollo no son capaces de atraer a los fondos soberanos. No obstante, los resultados de la investigación contribuyen también a la discusión académica sobre los motivos políticos de las inversiones del fondo soberano. Los ejemplos de fondos soberanos que participan en algunas iniciativas humanitarias o de desarrollo demuestran que las inversiones sesgadas políticamente no son necesariamente nocivas o amenazantes. Esta observación se debe tomar en cuenta en la discusión que se concentra excesivamente en la presentación de amenazas detrás de la dependencia política de los fondos