Object of the study: China's economic expansion into developing countries in the process of forming, programming and developing foreign economic relations; the purpose of the research: development of a new direction in the theory of economic expansion - China's foreign economic expansion into developing countries, in the face of increasing geo-economic influence of China in the world economy; research methods and equipment: historical-logical method, systemic method, theoretical and empirical economic modeling methods, Tobit regression analysis and two-step Heckman method, economic-mathematical analysis methods, analytical method, regression analysis methods, discrete survival model using complementary double-logarithmic regression, integration , logistic regression, graphical method; theoretical and practical results: the theoretical concept of foreign direct investment realization as a channel of economic expansion of the country based on the heterogeneity of enterprises is substantiated, which is determined by two specific characteristics: productivity and political ties of the enterprise in conditions of underdeveloped financial structures and imperfect institutional environment, which are more characteristic for the developing countries, including for the PRC; conducted an empirical study of the role of such specific market characteristics, such as productivity and political ties, in making foreign direct investments by PRC companies using a proprietary discrete survival model using a complementary double-logarithmic regression based on a unique set of statistics; the determinants that influence the choice of the recipient country for the foreign direct investment of the PRC as the main channel of economic expansion, using the characteristics of both micro and macro levels, and substantiated the methodological approaches of their analysis by means of an integral distribution function and developed own regression model; improved theoretical and methodological aspects of the study of China's global economic expansion strategy formation process by identifying major expansion channels of the PRC spanning five areas; the system of investigation of empirical determinants of FDI from China on the example of African countries is substantiated with the help of the developed model using Tobit regression analysis and two-step Heckman method; empirical study of the key factors of foreign direct investment from China to Ukraine using the logistic regression model has been developed, which made it possible to conclude that Chinese investors receive additional incentives to invest in the Ukrainian economy, if, in particular, there is a previous positive investment experience, , openness and economic freedom are increasing; a negative factor is the willingness of investors from China to support corruption schemes in the Ukrainian economy; the theoretical and applied foundations of the implementation and application of the Belt and Path Initiative are proposed by analyzing the main economic corridors of the initiative, as well as by defining the interests and actual goals of the initiators; proposed methodological foundations of the study of international economic relations in terms of interpreting the category of "economic expansion", taking into account the peculiarities of the strategy of reforming and growth of the Chinese economy and the specifics of its geo-economic role, as well as specifying the key market indicators of economic expansion; identification of tendencies of geo-economic transformations and delineation of their influence on China's foreign economic relations with developing countries, taking into account the main channels of expansion of China's economic expansion in the world; conceptual bases of foreign trade strategies of bilateral cooperation of China and developing countries are distinguished on the basis of comparative analysis of different regions by means of identification of objective institutional, political, socio-economic preconditions, perspectives and obstacles, and methods of their elimination in the process of deepening bilateral relations; degree of implementation: developments implemented in the practical activities of Department of Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Embassy of Ukraine in the People's Republic of China, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Department of International Technical Assistance and International Cooperation of Lviv Regional State Administration, LLC "Aries- Ukraine", LTC «Sport Drive», in the educational process of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv; scope: formation of Ukraine's foreign economic strategy in the context of increasing geo-economic influence of China and its economic expansion in developing countries.
