Foreign investment flows into China after SARS crisis
( 2003-07-13 10:50) (Xinhua)
The epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has not affected
foreign investors' confidence in China's economic future as a host of new
foreign investment plans take shape.
On June 24 when the World Health
Organization (WHO) removed Beijing from its list of SARS-infected areas and
lifted its travel advisory against the city, Motorola said all its China
investment plans would be implemented.
The company will continue to expand in
China and plans to build a research and development (R&D) center in Beijing,
invest one billion US dollars for R&D purposes and hire 4,000 R&D staff
in the next five years.
Motorola's annual output value and total investment
in China will amount to 10 billion US dollars respectively by 2006, sources with
the company said.
Meanwhile, manufacturing giant Toshiba said the Chinese
market will be the mainstay of its global operation by 2008 as the company plans
to increase its investment in China by stages in the next five years.
Like
Motorola and Toshiba, foreign manufacturing enterprises such as Siemens, Shell
and Samsung, which were not much affected by SARS, are also confident in
developing their businessese
Siemens plans to increase its sales in China to
11 billion euros by 2005 and employ another 6,000 people. At present, the German
company employs 25,000 people in China.
By 2005, Shell's total investment in
China will amount to five billion US dollars. Meanwhile, sales of Samsung in
China's mainland will be increased to 14 billion US dollars, making China the
largest overseas market for the Korean company.
Although heavily hit by SARS,
the retail and tourism industries are experiencing rapid growth and attracting
wide attention from overseas investors.
World retail giant Wal-Mart opened a
supermarket in Beijing in June and plans to establish 80 Wal-Mart outlets in 20
Chinese cities by 2005, with annual sales totaling 30 billion yuan (3.63 billion
US dollars).
In the next three years, Carrefour will open 70 new stores in
China, bringing its China operations to 100 and increasing its annual sales to
30 billion yuan (3.63 billion US dollars).
Foreign travel agencies have been
allowed to establish branches and share-holding companies in China since July
2003, further boosting China's tourism market.
Travel agent JTB Corp. has
filed an application to establish branches in the major Chinese cities of
Shanghai and Guangzhou. The number of Japanese tourists coming to Shanghai
through JTB totaled 130,000 in 2002.
American Express, a major credit card,
financial and travel service provider, established a business travel management
center in China. An American Express survey shows that annual travel and related
expenses total 10 billion US dollars in China with business travel expenses
amounting to some five billion US dollars, almost the same as that of European
developed countries such as France and Germany.
American Express plans to
extend its travel network to some 40 Chinese cities before March 2004.
After
the outbreak of SARS, food, pharmaceutical and insurance industries quickly
attracted wide attention from investors worldwide due to huge market potentials
being demonstrated in China's nationwide fight against the
epidemic.
GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals Shanghai Ltd. has decided to localize
all its product lines in the next one or two years. Sources with the
pharmaceutical giant said people will attach greater importance to health care
and disease prevention after SARS, further boosting the Chinese pharmaceutical
market.
Since SARS hit China's mainland early this year, American giant Amway
faced difficulty meeting the huge demand for some of its Nutrilite health-care
food and detergents. Amway announced that the company will increase the
registered capital of its China operation by 50 percent to a total of 120
million US dollars.
At the same time,
world insurance giant American International Group, Inc. (AIG) expected that its
life insurance premiums would increase by 40 percent this year in China,
demonstrating an increasing awareness of Chinese people to prepare for the risks
caused by sudden crises such as SARS.
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