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5 China-EU L.J. 1 (2016-2017)

handle is hein.journals/caeulwj5 and id is 1 raw text is: China-EU Law J (2016) 5:1 3 DOI 10.1007/s12689-016-0068-5 1 1 ) 1 1 , ) 1; I . Editorial introduction to the China-EU Law Journal special issue on the EU-China Investment Treaty in Interdisciplinary Perspective Louis Brennan' - Diarmuid Rossa Phelan' Published online: 7 July 2016 © China-EU School of Law 2016 China has long benefitted from Foreign Direct Investment from western industri- alised countries. More recently, spurred by China's Go Global encouragement to its firms at the beginning of the last decade, outward bound foreign investment (OFDI) from China has begun to increase rapidly from relatively insignificant levels. In 2010, China's OFDI accounted for slightly in excess of five percent of global OFDI. While still a relatively small share of global OFDI, it is the pace of growth in that share in recent years that has been highly noteworthy. The growth has continued apace in the past few years with China accounting for, in 2013, the third largest share of outward FDI after the USA and Japan. At the November 2014 APEC CEO summit in Beijing, China's President Xi Jinping predicted that China's outbound investment would reach $1.25 trillion over the next decade which would see such investment triple over the coming decade. The rapid emergence of China as one of today's leading sources of foreign direct investment in the world is one of the most significant elements of China's economic development. For the past number of years, there has been active discussion between the EU and China on the conclusion of an investment agreement. This reflects in part the change in the investment relationship between Europe and China. Foreign Direct Investment now not only flows from Europe to China but increasingly, and particularly in recent years, from China to Europe. Under the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU has been granted the competence to engage in this type of negotiation and treaty conclusion, having previously been an exclusive national competence. This is the next stage of EU-China relations and marks a significant development of legal, political, economic and financial significance. ® Louis Brennan BRENNAML@tcd.ie Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland I Springer