1、1China to Become Largest Cross-border Investor by 2020A latest research shows that Chinas offshore assets will triple by the end of this decade. Currently， Beijing holds global offshore assets of USD 6.4 trillion， which is set to increase to nearly USD 20 trillion by 2020. The economic research firm
2、 Rhodium Group and the Mercator Institute for China Studies made a joint report said that while a large part of total will be made up of foreign exchange reserves and portfolio investment， a growing proportion will be due to direct investment in other countries. According to the report， outbound for
3、eign direct investment （OFDI） ， which includes corporate mergers， acquisitions and start-ups， will increase to nearly USD 2 trillion by 2020 from its current level of USD 744 billion. China is now one of the top three providers of OFDI in the world after investment skyrocketed from next to nothing a
4、 decade ago to over USD 100 billion per year. So far， Europe has been a major recipient of Chinese investment， and according to the report， recipient markets 2need to do more to maximize benefits but contain risks. The report said， “Characteristics such as the size， growth and complementarity of the
5、 Chinese economy create unique opportunities for Europe. At the same time， some specific concerns that are related to the nature of Chinas political and economic system， for example subsidies， Chinas authoritarian political system and lack of openness to foreign direct investment， create particular
6、challenges.” China is increasingly looking to developed countries to invest in. EUR 46 billion was spent on 1，047 direct investments in 28 EU countries between 2000 and 2014， and activity spiked after the financial crisis in 2008. In that period， China invested EUR 12.2 billion in UK， EUR 6.9 billio
7、n in Germany， and EUR 5.9 billion in France， among the investment， energy， automotive， food and real estate sectors account for the largest proportion. There is a huge potential for further growth in outbound investment from China， and the report claims that “it has the potential to become the singl
8、e most important driver of global FDI growth over the next decade.” China currently possesses 7% of global financial cross-border assets and liabilities， compared to 38% for the U.S. 3and 47% for Germany. Further increase may be restricted by the barriers that Beijing places in front of foreign companies who want to invest in China. Another issue is the provision of state aid to Chinese companies bidding for assets in Europe， which European companies cannot receive from their national governments.
