A1. Selection of Datasets on Chinese Investments in Southeast Asia

This report surveys key changes in Chinese investments in SEA economies since the mid-2000s (following from the Chinese government’s 1999 “Going Global” strategy). To achieve this research objective, we examined various databases on Chinese overseas investments, including:

• • China Global Investment Tracker (CGIT) database;

• • ASEAN Statistical Yearbooks;

• • Foreign direct investment (FDI) data compiled by the World Bank;

• • FDI data compiled by the International Monetary Fund (IMF);

• • FDI data compiled by the Asian Development Bank;

• • Statistical Bulletin of China’s Outward FDI released by China’s Ministry of Commerce;

• • Data on China’s outward direct investment released by China’s Bureau of Statistics;

• • Global Chinese Official Finance Dataset, 2000–2014, Version 1.0; and

• • China Global Energy Finance database.

We eventually decided to use the CGIT database as the primary data source for this project for three reasons. First, unlike other datasets on Chinese investment which are either too aggregated or too segmented, CGIT provides up-to-date data on Chinese investments in each SEA country by industrial sector over a reasonably long period, from 2005 to 2019 (as at the time when data analysis first commenced in early 2020). This allowed us to examine the industry-specific trends and patterns of Chinese investments in every SEA country over the past fifteen years and to compare the features of Chinese investments across SEA countries. Section A of this Appendix explains how we selected and classified industrial sectors for this project. Second, the CGIT database includes two broad types of Chinese investments—transactions involving Chinese acquisition of asset ownership, and Chinese provision of services, in SEA countries. These two classifications enabled us to further disaggregate the relative spread of types of investments across SEA countries and industrial sectors. Third, the CGIT database provides additional information about investors and other transaction parties, facilitating our identification of specific Chinese investments that were of significance or particular interest. The CGIT database is a public dataset compiled and published by the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation in the United States.

However, it is important to note that the CGIT database only tracks “large” investments worth at least US$100 million.