Foreign companies find rich pickings (China Daily) Updated: 2006-05-22 08:59
Foreign-funded enterprises have made more than US$200 billion in post-tax
profits in China since the 1990s, according to a senior commerce
official.
Li Zhiqun, director of the Foreign Investment Department of the
Ministry of Commerce, announced the figures on Saturday at a forum titled
"Investing in Xi'an, Investing in the 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 US$270
billion of foreign funds.
Today these foreign-funded enterprises import
over US$560 billion of goods annually. To date corporations from 190
countries and regions worldwide have invested in China, including 450 of the
Fortune global top 500 multinationals. Foreign investors have established more
than 700 research and development centres in the country and over 40
multinational corporations have set up regional headquarters in China, said
Li.
Li said economic globalization stimulated economic growth in China
and has brought increasing opportunities for foreign investors.
The
Chinese economy grew by an average 9.6 per cent annually from 1978 to 2005.
And according to the World Bank estimates, China's economic growth
during the 2000-04 period contributed an average 14.3 per cent annually to world
economic growth during the same period.
China's economic growth has
attracted an increasing number of foreign investors, who have invested in both
traditional industrial and manufacturing sectors and also new areas such as
trade services, infrastructure construction in rural areas and cutting-edge
technology, among others.
By the end of last year, foreign-funded
enterprises in China had employed over 24 million local people.
The
country has established a legal system for foreign trade and economic
co-operation, which adapts to both China's drive to build a socialist market
economy and the rules of the World Trade Organization, Li said.
China
will 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, added Li. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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