Abstract

This LL.M. thesis provides a comprehensive examination of the legal framework governing Sino-American equity joint ventures in the People's Republic of China, written from the standpoint of an American investor navigating the rapidly evolving Chinese legal landscape of the 1980s. The work traces the development of China's foreign investment regime from the watershed adoption of the 1979 Joint Venture Law through subsequent implementing regulations, and analyzes the practical and legal challenges American investors face in establishing and operating equity joint ventures. Key topics include the nature and legal status of joint ventures under the Joint Venture Law and its implementing regulations; the establishment process encompassing documentation, capitalization, approval procedures, and registration; management structure, labor relations, and operational matters such as land use, insurance, and marketing. The thesis further examines foreign exchange and repatriation controls, including the Provisions on Balancing Foreign Exchange and the Measures for Import Substitution; the Chinese and U.S. taxation regimes applicable to joint ventures, with particular attention to the US-PRC Double Taxation Treaty and the absence of a tax-sparing credit provision; U.S. export control policy and its impact on technology transfer to the PRC, including the Reagan Administration's 1983 reclassification of China into Country Group V; and U.S. antitrust considerations under the Clayton Act, Sherman Act, and Federal Trade Commission Act as applied to overseas joint ventures.

Download

Share

COinS