Long Read: China Inc.’s Overseas Expansion Has Echoes of Japan

A comparison of the two nations’ experience shows there’s more driving the change than domestic overcapacity.

In recent months, the discussion around Chinese companies expanding overseas has intensified. Facing inadequate domestic demand and significant trade barriers abroad, the pace at which they’re establishing overseas ventures has accelerated, drawing many comparisons to Japan’s experience.

In the early 1990s, Japanese companies embarked on a wave of overseas expansion, coinciding with the bursting of Japan’s real estate bubble.