Contractual overseas direct investment in the Chinese mainland
surged 49.2 percent in the first quarter, indicating that China is
still a top attraction for foreign capital.
A Ministry of
Commerce report released Tuesday shows that while contractual
direct investment in the mainland hit US$34.3 billion in the
January-March period, materialized overseas investment rose 7.5
percent year-on-year to US$14.1 billion.
The mainland approved a total of 10,312 new overseas-invested
ventures in the three months, up 19.6 percent.
Top investors were Hong Kong, the British Virgin Islands, South
Korea, Japan, the United States and China's
Taiwan Province. The top ten accounted for 86.1 percent of
overseas direct investment.
By the end of March, the Chinese mainland had approved a total
of 476,000 overseas-invested firms, involving US$977.4 billion of
contractual investment and US$515.5 billion of arrived
investment.
(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2004)
