China investment policy – ensuring the mice will be caught

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian K. Lewis ◽  
Mirror Zhou ◽  
Elfie J.Y. Wang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Central Government ◽  
The State ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Key Industries ◽  
Corporate Lawyers ◽  
To Receive

Purpose This article analyses China’s attempts at economic revival, which, starting with the Foreign Investment Law, were under way before COVID-19 but which were given extra impetus by the onset of the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The thought is that the Foreign Investment Law lacks detail, so this article looks at the three ideas with which the State Council is seeking to underpin it: key Industries, promoting investment and equal treatment. It also considers Shanghai’s experience as the first major municipality to implement the State Council’s guidance. Findings China is committed to more transparency and to opening more of its economy to foreign investors, even if it will continue to be selective about which industries it wishes to encourage. The central government wants other regional and local jurisdictions to follow Shanghai’s lead and implement its guidance, as well as bring forward more measures to make the environment more favorable for foreign investment. At the same time, the article notes that China faces some hostility from other nations and groupings, such as the US, UK and the EU, from which it would expect to receive investment. Practical implications Investors can expect more specific reforms in the different areas of the economy that China wishes to develop while recognizing that it needs foreign expertise to do so. Originality/value Insight from experienced corporate lawyers who are resident in China and have first-hand experience of the measures aimed at economic recovery.

Skills shortage may hit Australia's post-COVID growth

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
General Election ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Infrastructure Projects ◽  
General Increase ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Skills Shortage ◽  
Key Industries ◽  
Skills Shortages

Significance The closing of internal and external borders in response to COVID-19 has heightened a longstanding skills deficit in key industries, with implications for wage levels, prices and broader economic growth. However, a general increase in immigrant numbers may not provide the skills that are needed. Impacts Labour shortfalls may delay government infrastructure projects that were designed to lead the post-pandemic economic recovery. Foreign investment may be affected by skills shortages in key areas such as mining and metallurgy. Debate on immigration levels could influence voting in the general election that is now likely to be held in April.

scholarly journals Tuareg-Rebellion, Islamismus und Staatskrise in Mali

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (170) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Greven
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationship ◽  
Central Government ◽  
The State ◽  
Islamic Fundamentalism ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
The North ◽  
Majority Population ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Government ◽  
Spontaneous Reaction

The root causes of the ongoing crisis in Northern Mali lie in the region’s underdevelopment, exacerbated by longstanding, if recently decreasing, neglect of the central government; the complex social relationship between the largest minority, the Tuareg, and the majority population, which has worsened since a largely unresolved crisis in the 1990s; and the growing interest of a small but growing number of actors involved in the drug trade and other criminal activities in the absence of the state. Among the latter have been a growing number of Jihadists, at first mostly from Algeria, who have been taking Western citizens hostage and therefore caused the US and France to pressure the Malian government to re-establish a presence of the state in the North. The clash was all but inevitable when several thousand heavily armed Tuareg fighters came to Mali after the defeat of Gaddafi in Libya. A new element of the crisis is the growing number of jihadists among the Tuareg rebels and other Malians, but neither Tuareg irredentism nor Islamic fundamentalism has more than minority support in Mali, Northern Mali, or among the Tuareg. The coup d’état against the president, while most likely a spontaneous reaction to the inability of the government to fight the rebellion, uncovered a structural crisis of Malian democracy and society. The disintegration of Mali’s long-praised formal democratic institutions after the coup showed fundamental problems. However, political supporters of the coup who assumed that the population’s tacit support of the coup could be turned into a movement for fundamental social change, had to find that it was largely an opportunistic and diffuse expression of general discontent.

Sources of International Investment Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge E. Viñuales
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
International Investment ◽  
The State ◽  
Conventional Theory ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Basic Understanding ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Practical Implications

This chapter addresses the challenges posed by the practice of international investment law to the conventional theory of the sources of international law. After a brief overview of the main ‘sources’ of ‘international investment law’, the chapter examines three challenges to this basic understanding, which arise from the need to account for the domestic laws governing different aspects of foreign investment transactions, the detailed jurisprudential norms generated by investment tribunals to specify broadly formulated norms, and the norms of general international law expressing the sovereignty of the State. For each category of norms, the chapter selects several problems that put the most widely accepted understanding of the sources of international law to test. It then explains why the problems examined have potentially important practical implications. The chapter concludes with some observations on the interactions between practice and the theory of the sources of international law.

Mosul will test US efforts to rebuild Iraqi army

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Department Of Defense ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
State Group ◽  
And Training

Subject US Iraqi Train and Equip Fund. Significance The US Department of Defense has requested an additional 630 million dollars for the Iraqi Train and Equip Fund (ITEF) in the 2016-17 fiscal year. This fund, hurriedly brought into existence in the summer of 2014, was developed to provide assistance and training to the Iraqi army in the wake of its disastrous performance against Islamic State group (ISG) forces. Forces trained under the ITEF will be a key component of the planned offensive to retake the ISG stronghold of Mosul later this year. Impacts The programme is unlikely to continue once Mosul has been retaken -- although other funding streams will continue. Its success would strengthen the Iraqi army, thereby empowering central government against pro-Iran, hardline militias. Its failure would strengthen these militias and increase the prospects of a semi-permanent fragmentation of the Iraqi state.

US diplomatic service will be downsized and degraded

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
The State ◽  
Direct Influence ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Content Type ◽  
White House ◽  
The Us ◽  
Cutting Out ◽  
Foreign Policy Crises

Subject The State Department. Significance The US State Department’s third-ranking official and most senior career diplomat, Tom Shannon, announced his departure on February 1. While the 60-year old Shannon said he was stepping down for personal reasons, he is only the latest in a stream of senior career diplomats who have left since Donald Trump became president a year ago and appointed Rex Tillerson as secretary of state with a mandate to downsize the department. Impacts Minimising the benefits of diplomacy in favour of military action could exacerbate foreign policy crises and conflicts. White House heel-dragging on filling posts both 'streamlines' State and avoids congressional confirmation scrutiny of political nominees. Concerned that State wields little influence with the White House, Congress will be more assertive in the foreign policy process. Other powers -- particularly US allies -- will seek and have increased direct influence on the White House, cutting out State.

Taiwan will benefit from US-China friction

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North Korea ◽  
State Department ◽  
The State ◽  
Military Cooperation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Opening Ceremony ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
At Home

Significance Taiwan-US relations got a symbolic boost when the US government opened a new 250-million-dollar institute to house the de facto embassy in Taipei, Taiwan's capital, on June 12. President Tsai Ing-wen, and a US delegation that included representatives from Congress and the State Department, attended the opening ceremony. It may have received greater attention and perhaps higher-ranking US representation had the first US-North Korea summit not been scheduled for the same day. Impacts Taiwan's president will be constrained from improving China ties by anti-China sentiment at home. More businesses could come under Chinese pressure as cross-Strait relations deteriorate further. Taiwan-US military cooperation will prompt more aggressive Chinese efforts to diminish Taiwan's standing and increase military intimidation.

Bosnia's paralysed institutions add to sense of chaos

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
State Budget ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Level Government ◽  
Political Disputes

Significance Intensified political disputes between the main parties are holding up the state budget for 2020, including funding for local elections in November. They also threaten to weaken the response to the looming socio-economic crisis from the COVID-19 pandemic. Impacts The US entry ban on former senior SDA member Amir Zukic is seen as an attempt to persuade the party to behave more responsibly. The EU is in a contest with China, Russia and Turkey to retain influence in the region. Pre-election positioning may explain the defection of Fahrudin Radoncic’s Union for a Better Future party from the state-level government.

Arce faces major economic challenges in Bolivia

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
Economic Stress ◽  
Foreign Reserves ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
Key Industries

Significance However, he will lack the commodity boom-related revenue that fuelled such programmes. Bolivia has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic; GDP is forecast to contract by between 5-8% in 2020 amid increasing fiscal and external deficits and declining foreign reserves. Impacts Economic stress in key industries will carry over to the financial sector, potentially triggering a need for liquidity support. Insecurity could weigh on foreign investment, especially if anti-MAS protests endure or unrest develops over issues such as unemployment. A weaker hydrocarbon sector will hit growth, particularly if the country fails to diversify its economy.

Sudan's economic reform will prove challenging

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Reform ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
International Aid ◽  
Economic Hardship ◽  
Debt Relief ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Government Corruption ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Government

Significance Bringing tangible improvements to the economy will be a major challenge for Sudan’s new transitional government. Economic hardship and anger over perceived government corruption were recurring causes of protests over recent years and could be again. Impacts The government will publicise its efforts to stabilise prices, although actually achieving this may prove elusive. Efforts to secure removal from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism will be a major focus, but this process will take time. Delisting would be welcomed by businesses and investors, and would boost debt relief prospects, but will not resolve underlying challenges. Significant new foreign investment will depend on the government’s performance, but fresh injections of international aid can be expected.

A review of the SEC Participating Affiliate No-Action Letters’ relief from Investment Advisers Act of 1940 registration for foreign investment advisers

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 22-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy E. Cohen ◽  
David Y. Dickstein ◽  
Christian B. Hennion ◽  
Richard D. Marshall ◽  
Allison C. Yacker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Securities And Exchange Commission ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Information Update ◽  
Practical Guidance ◽  
Investment Advisers

Purpose To explain the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) staff’s (the “Staff”) participating affiliate exemption from investment adviser registration for foreign advisers set forth in a line of Staff no-action letters issued between 1992 and 2005 (the “Participating Affiliate Letters”) and to discuss recent guidance issued by the Staff in an information update published in March 2017 (the “Information Update”) with respect to complying with requirements of the Participating Affiliate Letters. Design/methodology/approach Reviews the development of the Staff’s approach regarding the non-registration of foreign advisers that rely on the Participating Affiliate Letters from prior to the issuance of those letters through the Information Update and sets forth recommendations for registered investment advisers and their participating affiliates. Findings While there are arguments that the Information Update goes beyond restating established standards and does not clearly explain whether submission of all listed documentation is required, the Information Update will likely standardize the information submitted to the SEC. Originality/value Practical guidance for advisers relying on the Participating Affiliate Letters from experienced securities and financial services lawyers.

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