Abstract: In the context of the new pattern of overall opening up formed by the deepening supply-side structural reform put forward by the 19th Congress of CPC, more and more Chinese enterprises have chosen the way of “going global”. Based on the data of 164 countries (regions), this paper examines the impact of the distance between the host country (region) and China’s industrial structure on the level of OFDI of China in the host countries (regions). The results show that the impact of the industrial structure distance on the level of existing China’s OFDI in the host countries (regions) is significantly remarkable, which is reflected in the characteristics of “downstream industrial structural complementarity” and the motives of “marginal industries transfer”. In addition, the impact of industrial structural distance on China’s OFDI is significant in the samples of Asian and European countries (regions), while in the samples of African and South American countries (regions) is not significant. Such factors as level of economic growth, labor force abundance and proportion of high-tech industry will affect the effect of industrial structural distance on OFDI to some extent. However, the impact of industrial structural distance on China’s OFDI presents no significant differentiation in the countries (regions) along the route of “the Belt and Road”.

Key words: outward foreign direct investment; industrial structure distance; industrial structure complementarity; location selection; the Belt and Road Initiative