當中國「對外直接投資」(Foreign Direct Investment，簡稱FDI)大幅湧入世界各國後，被投資國對於中國資金的質疑與恐懼也逐漸浮現，例如:歐洲各國擔憂中資入主後，將降低歐陸勞工的待遇;澳洲民眾與國會反對中資併購國內農場等。然而，上述恐慌卻與文獻資料分析存有歧異， 爬梳有關中國對外直接投資之於被投資國的影響等相關研究後發現，中國資金並未帶來「紅色政治」，且中資與其他國家投資的運作方式亦無明顯差異。雖然中資並未對被投資國產生預期的傷害和損失，但為什麼仍可觀察到世界各國對中國資金的不信任及存疑的現象呢?

本文提出政治體制差異的假說，用以解釋各國對中資的不信任。由於政治體制的根本差異，民主程度較高的國家較容易對於來自非民主國家的資金產生不信任感與懷疑，也因此會觀察到上述若干抗議與質疑的情形。 在中國一帶一路的官方投資方向下，東南亞各國皆為中國的重點投資對象，故本文將以印度尼西亞與泰國進行個案研究:以中資於印尼與泰國皆占有重要比率為前提，分析不同政治體制對於中資管制的差異，來驗證所提出的假說，並解釋為什麼各國會對中資產生恐慌與偏見。

While foreign direct investment (FDI) flows from China to other countries in the world, some recipients have shown their fear and question toward China’s investment. For instance, European countries are afraid of the degradation of labor and environmental standard after embracing investment from China to their industries;, while Australia’s public and media blame China’s investment on real estate for the rising housing price. However, after carefully reviewing discussions on each case in the literature, it can be seen that China’s investment neither brought autocratic propaganda nor a degrading situation to those countries. Put differently, China’s investment is more similar as the scapegoat than sources of proclaimed damage to the society. As a result, it is puzzling to observe why countries do not trust China’s investment but rather are treating it as the scapegoat?

In this paper, I will propose regime differences between China and other invested countries as a hypothesis to explain the observed distrust. Owing to the differences between regimes and the recent development of autocracy promotion, it is more likely for us to observe higher degree of distrust and doubt about investments from China in democratic countries. Following the official direction of the Belt-Road Initiative, I will focus on two countries in Southeast Asia --- Indonesia and Thailand --- and compare their governmental regulation and civil response to China’s investment. While holding similar factors, the article provides regime difference to explain why some countries “distrust China’s foreign direct investment but not others.