Abstract: To develop global partnership is an important measure for China to exercise active diplomacy. Going global for OFDI is a key means for China to achieve high-quality development and strengthen its global influence. Based on the OFDI data flow of China to 119 countries or regions in the world from 2003 to 2014, this paper examines the impact of building bilateral partnerships on China’s outward foreign direct investment. The results show that by establishing bilateral partnership, China’s OFDI can be increased by about 80%, and the effect is still robust when the sample size and endogenous problems are taken into consideration. The effect of partnership promoting OFDI will be significantly affected by economic distance and institutional distance; such effect is greater in host countries with less economic distance and institutional distance to China, while in the host countries with larger economic distance and institutional distance to China this effect is smaller. This kind of moderating effect is specifically obvious in the political institutional distance and economical institutional distance of the institutional institution.

Key words: bilateral partnerships; outward foreign direct investment; moderating effect; institutional distance; economic distance