Informal Relations and Foreign Invested Enterprises in China: Navigating Institutional Relations in the Age of National Security

This thesis aims to examine how informal networks shape institutional relations between the Chinese state and foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) amid the growing centrality of national security in China’s economic governance, asking to what extent informal relational strategies still allow FIEs to influence regulatory outcomes. It first traces the evolution of guanxi and clientelist networks starting from the reform era to their reconfiguration under Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign and political recentralization, arguing that these two elements have shifted informal ties from personalistic clientelism toward Party-centred relations progressively subordinated to state control. Subsequently, the thesis analyses China’s FDI regime and regulatory environment, exploring how FIEs adapt institutionally through local partnerships and political connections with governmental officials. Finally, it investigates the transformation of national security from a political phenomenon into a business factor, evaluating the relative risks, vulnerabilities and strategic responses adopted by foreign firms. This thesis conclude es that these dynamics indicate neither the disappearance of guanxi nor a simple shift toward formal institutionalization, but its repositioning. Informal relations remain useful for communication, information access and administrative navigation, yet are less able to determine the outcome of security-sensitive decisions, which depend on whether an issue lies with a negotiable grey zone or inside the security perimeter.