Foreign Direct Investments as a Tool of the Expansion of Chinese Corporations in V4 Countries

China is rapidly changing nowadays from a foreign direct investment (FDI) host country to a major investor country on a global scale. Many Chinese corporations are expanding into the international markets and they use FDI as a tool of expansion at an increasing rate. The aim of this paper is to map the expansion of Chinese corporations into the Visegrad group (V4) countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) through FDI in these countries.Design/methodology/approach: The paper collects FDI data from the official government (Chinese and V4) and private databases to map the Chinese FDI in V4 countries since the beginning of the 21st century. The data will be used to create a comparative study of the V4 countries to localize the most important avenues for the Chinese expansion in these countries.Findings: Using several sources of Chinese OFDI data we demonstrated that these countries are on the periphery of the attention of Chinese companies. However, the FDI activities of Chinese companies clearly increased in the V4 countries after 2005 and this trend is likely to continue also in the coming years. The Chinese FDI projects in V4 countries are mostly concentrated in various sectors of the industry with machinery and electronics being the most important sectors. The events of the last several years show an increased interest of Chinese companies in the energy sector of the V4 countries, what will require a lasting policy response from the governments of the V4 countriesResearch/practical implications: The paper synthesizes several sources of Chinese OFDI data and includes (limited) policy implications for V4 governments facing giant state-owned Chinese corporations.Originality/value: The paper fills a void in an increasingly important research area as the expansion of Chinese corporations in Europe accelerated in the last years.