國立臺灣大學政治科學論叢

Abstract / Chinese PDF Download

This paper applied the panel data logit model (PDLM) to determine the key political and economic motivations for major countries to sign bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with 102 developing countries. The research objects cover six major countries, namely China, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States; the study period is from 1987 to 2012. Some of the major findings are listed below. Firstly, competitive pressure is the number one reason why major countries are motivated to sign BITs with developing countries, followed by the host countries’ economic resources as well as ensuring the safety of their outward foreign direct investment. Obviously, political pressure outweighs economic interests and is the primary consideration for a major country to sign BITs with developing countries. Secondly, major powers are competing in the signing of BITs due to their self-aware position in the international. For example, by singing BITs, the United States aims at setting a standard on the BITs, in order to maintain its international influence. Thus, the number of BITs is not the main factor that compel the U.S. to sign BITs. On the contrary, China fears that BITs inked by other major countries would generate an investment diversion effect, which would interrupt its energy supply chain and essentially its sustainable development. So, even though the number of BIT that China has inked is already the second highest in the world, China still has pressure to sign BITs, especially with most of the oil-producing countries.