Given the stakes involved for the United States and China, as well as for the global economy, it is important that the policy community is as well informed as possible about sovereign wealth funds in general and the Chinese SWF in particular. To that end, The National Bureau of Asian Research is pleased to present Michael Cognato’s research on CIC. His paper provides an analysis of the political and economic debates that led to the formation of CIC, outlines what is known about the corporation’s investment objectives and management structure, and details the domestic and foreign investments that CIC has undertaken to date. He also examines some of the specific concerns that have been raised about the potential risks posed by CIC to U.S. national interests and draws some preliminary conclusions about their validity.