Taking France as a case study, the paper suggests explanations for the presence of Chinese firms, assesses in detail the push and pull factors influencing their activities and provides a tentative assessment of possible impacts. The paper shows that the concerns expressed about the presence of Chinese investors are wholly misplaced so far for a number of reasons. First, Chinese ODI is still extremely limited, secondly Chinese investors can be shown to behave exactly like any other foreign investors, with market-seeking objectives prevailing over strategic asset-seeking motivations, and finally Chinese ODI may lead to win-win situations. In particular French firms can be shown to be in a position to benefit from Chinese ODI either by discharging underperforming assets or by getting an access to the Chinese market.