Abstract

Abstract：Since 2020，the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic has sent the world economy into severe recession，disrupted industrial and supply chains，and caused a contraction in international trade and investment，and the risks of overseas investment from China continue to rise.

Report of Country-Risk Rating of Overseas Investment from China（2021），builds a total of 42 indicators from the perspective of Chinese overseas investment and sovereign wealth in 114 countries and regions，including the economic base，debt-paying ability，social flexibility，political risk and its relations with China，comprehensively and quantitatively annual the overseas investment risk facing Chinese firms. The 2021 assesses report adopts the standards of the previous annual report in terms of sample range selection，rating indicators and rating methods，and has achieved good comparability with the results of previous years.

The 2021 report shows that developed countries have better economic foundations，lower political risks，better social elasticity，stronger debt payment capacity，therefore，the overall risks of investing in those countries are obviously lower than in emerging-market economies. Nevertheless，developed economies score lower than emerging-market economies in their relations to China and remain at a lower level. The uncertainty caused by the trade friction between China and the United States has further reduced the level of Chinese investment in North America，the bilateral political relations score，and the overall ranking. For the emerging-market economies，their gap with the developed countries in terms of economic foundation and political risk remains huge. However，with the rising investment demand of emerging-market economies，especially within the RCEP region，the emerging-market will still be the most potential destination for China's overseas investment in the future. At present，the areas along the Belt and Road Initiative have become a new growth point of China's OFDI. Finally，it should be emphasized that the risks of overseas investment in 2021 need to arouse investors’ vigilance.

Key Words：Overseas investment，Country risk rating，Index system，“Belt and Road”，RCEP，COVID-19