Investment Suitability Assessment Based on B&R Symbiotic System Theory: Location Choice of China’s OFDI

Achieving mutualistic symbiosis is the core concept of China’s promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Therefore, how to guide China’s OFDI location decision-making in the Belt and Road (B&R) countries from the perspective of mutualistic symbiosis is of great significance. This paper constructs the B&R symbiotic system based on symbiotic system theory, to establish the investment suitability index from three dimensions: stability, coordination, and sustainability, then uses the entropy weight, TOPSIS, and GIS method to assess and analyze the investment suitability index of 60 major countries in B&R’s six economic corridors. The findings indicate that Russia, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia have the highest investment suitability and are China’s most favorable OFDI destinations for achieving mutualistic symbiosis. Conversely, Syria, Lebanon, Jordon, and Yemen have the lowest investment suitability. Based on these results, policymakers can formulate more scientific and reasonable policies to guide China’s OFDI to make location decisions in B&R countries with high investment suitability, so as to promote the high-quality and sustainable development of B&R construction. However, due to data acquisition and technical reasons, this study does not analyze investment suitability from time trends. The analysis of investment suitability from more B&R countries or different types of industries is an important direction for further research in the future.