China Foreign Investment Falls Again

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China fell for the sixth consecutive month in April, according to the latest official figures, dragged down by a plunge in fund flows from crisis-struck Europe.Investment from overseas fell 0.7 percent from a year earlier to $8.4 billion, the commerce ministry said.In the first four months of the year, FDI reached $37.9 billion, down 2.4 percent from the same period in 2011.Investment from the European Union, in the throes of a major sovereign debt crisis, tumbled 27.9 percent on year to $1.9 billion in from January to April.

Foreign direct investment in China rose 19.83 percent in July year on year, data showed Tuesday, with analysts saying robust growth and expectations of a stronger currency attracted overseas investors.For the first seven months of the year, China took a total of $69.19 billion in foreign direct investment, up 18.57 percent from the same period a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.Foreign companies invested $8.30 billion in the world's second-largest economy last month, the statement said.

Foreign direct investment in China rose 11.3 percent on-year in the first four months of 2010, the government said Friday, suggesting confidence in the world's third-largest economy continued to grow.Foreign companies pumped in 30.8 billion dollars in direct investment in the country from January to April, the commerce ministry said on its website.The figure marked an acceleration from the 7.7 percent jump seen in the first quarter.In April alone, foreign investment increased 24.7 percent to 7.3 billion dollars, it said.

NOTHING stays the same forever. This week, fresh economic data confirmed what everyone has known since last summer: China surpassed Japan to be the world's second-largest economy sometime in 2010.

The escalating dispute between China and Japan over an archipelago of rocky islets known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan has curbed Japanese exports into China, forcing Tokyo to fast-track moves to distance itself economically from its larger neighbor.

This morning, Secretary Locke addressed the Asia Society Center on U.S.-China Relations and the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China. The groups today released a new study that shows Chinese foreign direct investment in America doubling in each of the last two years. Chinese investors now have investments in at least 35 of our 50 states, across dozens of industries, employing thousands of Americans. Locke welcomed this news, but also noted progress the U.S. needs to see from Beijing to improve the business environment for American companies trying to invest or expand into China. He said, “When it comes to market access problems for foreign companies, the issues may be different, but the fundamental problem often boils down to the distance between the promises of China’s government and action.”

Foreign direct investment in China rose 18.1 percent in the first eight months of 2010, the government said Wednesday, as confidence in the world's second-largest economy appeared to moderate slightly.Foreign companies pumped 65.95 billion US dollars into China in the January-August period, commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian told reporters at a regular briefing.That marked a slight deceleration from the 20.7 percent growth logged from January to July and the 19.6 percent increase seen in the first half.