China’s foreign investment legal regime encompasses domestic laws governing inward and outward investments, investment treaties and the Belt and Road Initiative. Can China’s foreign investment legal regime lead its two-way investments towards the country’s five development goals (building technological capacity, deepening integration into the global economy, promoting green development, protecting security, and participating in global economic governance and rule-making)? Yawen Zheng pioneers a systematic study of China’s foreign investment legal regime, finding that the regime has gradually made progress towards the development goals, but the effort is diluted by obstacles such as outdated treaties, conflicts with the West, and domestic political challenges.