Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

Commerce Ministry: Foreign investment strategy unchanged

By Hao Zhou (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-10-21 17:49

Chinese enterprises' foreign investment strategy will stay the same in the long run, confirmed by Chen Jian, a vice minister of commerce, according to today's Shanghai Securities News.

The international economic situation is worsening and becoming more complicated , which has dampened many transnational companies' outlooks and dragged down their investment projects, said Chen at the ongoing fifth International Investment Promotion Forum in Shanghai Pudong.

Chen added that the Ministry of Commerce would actively and prudently encourage Chinese enterprises to invest abroad, and China's foreign investment strategy will last for a long period.

During the first half of this year, the foreign investments of China's non-financial industries totaled $25.66 billion, more than triple the figure of the same period of last year, said Chen.

In the future, the Ministry of Commerce will create more comfortable foreign investment conditions and more financing channels, and it will support qualified Chinese firms to participate in international mergers and acquisitions.

Before 2000, Chinese companies were keen on commodity trade when they invested in overseas markets, and they shifted to energy development afterwards. As the US financial crisis is sweeping the world, is it now an opportunity for Chinese foreign investment, especially in the financial sector?

Zhang Youwen, head of the World Economy Institute under the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, thinks not. He said China is still weak in the financial field and is not capable yet of taking over a US financial institute. The $1.9 trillion forex reserves owned by China can only influence a small niche in the global financial market at most, said Zhang.

China's foreign investment should gradually extend to developed countries, taking advantage of the destructive financial crisis to acquire technologies and manufacturing capacities, suggested Zhang.