"It is quite normal for the figure of foreign investment use to fluctuate in a short time. This doesn't mean that big changes have occurred in China's use of foreign investment," said Jin Bosheng, director of the Foreign Capital Research Department of the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Institute under the Ministry of Commerce.

The Ministry of Commerce recently publicized the number of the newly approved foreign-funded enterprises and the amount of actual use of foreign investment from January to July this year. The result shows that those two figures have declined by 7.63% and 1.16% respectively.

Over the past few years, China has always been ranked among the top in the world, and No.1 among developing countries, in the use of foreign investment. Since China carried out the opening policy twenty years ago, foreign investment utilization has helped China to create more job opportunities, promote GDP growth, and increase foreign trade. At present, China has entered into a relatively stable period in its use of foreign investment.

"When talking about introduction of foreign investment, we should not only pay attention to the quantity, but also to its quality," said Han Caizhen, associate professor at the School of International Relations in the Renmin University of China.

The annual report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, or UNCTAD, shows that in China, outward foreign direct investment stock has taken up a greater proportion of the country's GDP than in other developed countries, or developing countries, or the world at large. In fact, of the amount of the actually used foreign investment, only a portion has been transferred to assets. In China, the total amount of foreign investment that has been transferred to assets accounts for less than half of the total amount of the actually used foreign investment.

"This indicates that in China, although the use of foreign investment is large in quantity, its quality is not very high," said Hao Hongmei, researcher from the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Institute under the Ministry of Commerce.
 
Editor: Yan