Foreign-funded enterprises have recorded more than 200 billion U.S. dollars
in post-tax profits in China since the 1990s, a senior Chinese commerce official
said.
Li Zhiqun, director of Foreign Investment Department of Ministry of Commerce,
announced the figures on Saturday at a forum of "Investing in Xi'an, Investing
in Future", held in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Currently, China has approved the establishment of over 500,000
foreign-financed enterprises and has used 270 billion U.S. dollars of foreign
funds. These foreign-funded enterprises import over 560 billion U.S. dollars of
goods annually.
To date, corporations from 190 countries and regions worldwide have invested
in China, including 450 of the Fortune global top 500 multinational
corporations. Foreign investors have established more than 700 research and
development centers in China and over 40 multinational corporations have set up
regional headquarters in the country, Li said.
Li said economic globalization stimulated economic growth in China and has
brought increasing opportunities to foreign investors.
Li said, Chinese economy grew by an average 9.6 percent annually during the
1978-2005 period. According to the World Bank estimates, China's economic growth
during the 2000-2004 period contributed average 14.3 percent annually to the
world economic growth during the same period, ranking the second in the world.
China's economic growth attracted the attention of increasing number of
foreign investors, who have invested in the traditional industrial and
manufacturing sectors and also in new areas such as trade services,
infrastructure construction in rural areas and high technologies, among others.
By the end of last year, foreign-funded enterprises in China had employed
over 24 million local people.
China has established a legal system serving foreign trade and economic
cooperation, which adapts to the demand of China's building of a socialist
market economy and the rules of the World Trade Organization, Li said.
China would continue to create a better investment environment for foreign
investors and encourage foreign investors to pour more funds into the high-tech
sector in the future, Li said.
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