Top officials from Terumo Medical Products, Japan's largest medical instrument manufacturer, said last week that the company is planning to invest a further 2 billion yen (US$16.8 million) in China soon.

"We see a lot of good potential in the Chinese medical instrument market. We have also decided to move more manufacturing bases from Japan to China to lower our production costs and become more competitive," said Kazuho Oishi, president of Terumo Medical Products Hangzhou Co Ltd.

"We highly appreciate the serious and responsible attitude that the Chinese Government is showing with regard to the epidemic. Therefore, we feel really optimistic about the future of our company here," said Oishi.

According to the president, construction of the company's new factories will be completed in Hangzhou next month, covering an area of 30,000 square metres.

He said the new factories will focus on the production of a highly-advanced medical instrument - the angiographic catheter - which is currently only being used in surgical operations in developed countries.

"The completion of this new programme will enable the Hangzhou company to realize an annual sales value of 400 million yuan (US$48 million)," said Oishi.

Many other foreign investors in the province have echoed Terumo and chosen to carry on with their business and investment plans, despite the SARS outbreak, although the disease did present some problems.

"We did once worry about our production when SARS first arrived, as many earlier planned activities outside the city were cancelled. But now, quite out of the blue, we are doing very well," said An Shiyou, executive manager of the Swiss-invested Happy Arts and Crafts Co Ltd in Ningbo.