Abstract:    In recent years, the scale of China′s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has grown rapidly. The impact of OFDI on export trade has been widely discussed. The existing literature on the relationship between OFDI and exports has focused on whether the two are substitutive or complementary, but no consensus has been reached. Previous research on the influencing factors of the relationship between OFDI and exports has mainly examined the influence upon their relationship of differences in industrial structure, financial development and factor endowments between the home and host countries (regions), but few studies have focused on differences in intellectual property rights (IPR) protection. This paper focus on the influence of OFDI on export trade and the moderating effect of differences in IPR protection. The eclectic paradigm identifies four primary motivations for OFDI: market-seeking, resource-seeking, efficiency-seeking and strategic asset-seeking. OFDI for the purpose of market- and resource-seeking can promote the export of intermediate products and equipment that are required for the production and development of natural resources in the host country (region). Efficiency-seeking and asset-seeking OFDI can increase the productivity of home country firms by optimizing resource allocation, respectively, thereby expanding exports. Based on this theory, this paper′s first hypothesis is that an increase in OFDI from the home country to the host country is accompanied by an increase in exports. Almost inevitably, there will be differences in IPR protection between a home country (region) and a host country (region). With greater differences in IPR, exports of high-tech products, such as intermediate products and production equipment, will be lower; and the productivity improvement effect of OFDI on firms in the home country (region) will be reduced, thereby reducing exports. This paper′s second hypothesis is therefore that, as the difference in IPR protection between the home country and the host country increases, the export creation effect of OFDI weakens.This paper used the panel data from 2006 to 2019 and applied the system GMM to estimate the relationship between OFDI and export. Robustness tests were performed by replacing the dependent variable or by changing the estimation method. This paper also divided the sample into developed and developing economies to test the heterogeneity of moderating effect.The study results indicated that OFDI positively affects exports and that the positive effect of OFDI on exports may be weakened with greater differences in IPR protection. The empirical evidence at the macro level supports the results of the theoretical analysis and is robust to different variable settings and econometric methods. Regression analysis based on sub-samples also showed that OFDI may positively affects the export trade.China has continuously improved the creation, utilization, protection, management and service of intellectual property. China has also actively participated in the global governance of intellectual property rights, promoting the improvement of intellectual property rights related international rules and standards for international trade and international investment. The rational public policies are beneficial to enterprises which have comparative advantages and provide high-quality products and services to the world market in the open economy. 

Key words: outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), intellectual property rights protection, export effect