Foreign Invested Enterprises in China: evolution and revolution of the legal framework with Chinese-English terminological glossary

Abstract

The regulation of foreign investment and foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) has been one the focuses of Chinese reforms since the late 1970s, when the economic reform initiated by Deng Xiaoping sparked a liberalization and market opening-up process for the previously enclosed country. The first part of this thesis will focus primarily on the legal framework governing foreign investment in China by illustrating the historical regime envisioned during the late 70s and the changes brought upon by the promulgation of the new Foreign Investment Law. The first chapter will present the sanzi qiye fa 三资企业法 “The Three Foreign Investment Laws” and will focus on the three main vehicles of foreign investment: Sino-foreign Equity Joint Ventures, Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises and Sino-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures. The second chapter will introduce the new Foreign Investment Law, which came into force on 1 January 2020 and unified the body of regulations governing FIEs by subjecting them to domestic laws. This aspect will be expanded in the final chapter, which will establish a comparison between the old regulatory regime and the new one. The second part will consist of a Chinese-English terminological glossary based on the topic presented in the first part.