Description

In the 1990s, China opened up the country’s vast mineral resources to international investment. Over the past decade, the Chinese government has reformulated its mining legislation to attract foreign companies into the mining sector with the hope of speeding up its ‘modernization’. Between 2001 and 2004, the number of foreign mining projects quickly increased from 150 to 279. Only a few years later, many of these projects have been halted; and some of them never fully realized. Only 92 foreign mining projects were registered by the end of 2010. Currently, notwithstanding the abundance of unexplored mineral deposits, many foreign companies have departed the Chinese market and moved their interests to Mongolia or elsewhere, and most of the remaining ones are only involved in selling equipment and marketing efforts. However, foreign investors’ hopes of being successful in the Chinese land of opportunity have not faded entirely. Through the analysis of Canadian experiences in the Chinese mining sector, this research aims to identify and assess the theories and practices that have contributed to a decrease of Canadian direct investment in China. While comparing their experiences, I argue that international firms continue, on the one hand, to feel stymied by an inconsistent and convoluted mining policy and their inability to create relationships of trust with local mining stakeholders, and on the other hand, to feel threatened by the Chinese government due to their support for the expansion of Chinese domestic companies. The aim of this research is to not only clarify the issues at stake, but also to encourage constructive dialogue and promote fair trade between China and Canada.

Dr. Elena Caprioni is a research affiliate of the the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. She received her PhD in Chinese Modern and Contemporary from the University of Cagliari (Italy) in 2009, focusing her dissertation research on Uyghur-Han ethnic relations. Elena then undertook post-doctoral studies at the Institute of Asian Research (UBC, Vancouver) for two years on Uyghur sexist proverbs, and the Western Development Program in peripheral China, with an emphasis on Canadian mining companies. Over the past year Elena has been the Program Director of the Asian Business and Management Program at York University.