China has a decades-long tradition of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). As the chapter notes, China is one of the more prolific nations as it comes to direct investment by the national government owned enterprises. While the amount of investment varies amongst the regions of the world, there is still at least some emerging investments by China in each of them. While you would imagine there would be some influence on the recipient nation by this outward investment, there is in fact similar levels of influence on China by those it is aiding. The author does well to navigate the different arenas of law, culture, and aspects of the Chinese experience that have been impacted by this revolving door of OFDI. To aid and collect the benefits of this all-encompassing program, the national government will sign a plethora of bilateral investment treaties, BITs, that provide a stable platform on continual investment both in and out of China. With the divergence of China from the once "planned socialist economy" in favor of a more capitalistic endeavor, these actions by the national government have shown a desire to become more open and involved with the international community, and should be lauded as they are indicating a level of willingness to make progress in that area of international participation. The authors notes how the modern BITs have also included consideration of social and environmental standards, and if that should continue, the applause for the improvements
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