(Yicai) Feb. 5 -- China has consolidated its status as a major global investment destination by committing to promoting opening-up and enhancing liberalization and facilitation of investment, which has also led to an improvement in the quality of foreign investment utilized in the country, according to the latest report.

China has long remained an important investment destination for global investors thanks to its huge market and favorable support in terms of industrial and supply chains, as well as technological innovation, according to an official report released on Feb. 3.

The report was compiled by the Organizing Committee of the China International Fair for Investment, the Trade and Information Center of the Development Research Center of the State Council, and the Department of Foreign Economic Research of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

More than 70,000 new foreign firms were established in China last year, up 19 percent from 2024, according to data from the Ministry of Finance. The country attracted CNY747.7 billion (USD107.7 billion) in foreign investment, over 32 percent of which was invested in high-tech industries.

China’s sci-tech innovation capability ranks among the top worldwide, and its innovation opportunities are becoming an important driving force for foreign enterprises to hike their global competitiveness, according to the report.

Taking the digital field as an example, China’s technological breakthroughs, rich application scenarios, and vast high-quality innovative talents in areas such as artificial intelligence and fifth-generation network have formed the world’s largest sci-tech innovation ecosystem, creating a favorable innovation environment for foreign enterprises.

Many overseas firms have set up innovation entities, such as research and development centers, data centers, and new technology testing centers, in China.

China still holds strong appeal for foreign investment, partially because of its huge market and complete and efficient industrial and supply chains, said Wan Zhe, researcher at the Belt and Road School of Beijing Normal University.

The country has gradually become a leader in many sci-tech innovation fields, which, coupled with its abundant talent reserves and high-level institutional opening-up, is making it attractive to various high-end industries for a long time to come, Wan explained.

China’s advantages in opening up and cooperation are constantly accumulating, driving domestic high-quality enterprises to go global, providing a sustained driving force for global economic growth.

Chinese enterprises investing abroad and cooperating with foreign firms not only promote the growth of tax revenue and employment in host countries, but also enhance the industrialization process and self-development capabilities of host countries through measures, such as strengthening industrial agglomeration and improving infrastructure construction, the report said.

China’s outward foreign direct investment covers 18 industry categories, including manufacturing, leasing and business services, and software and information technology services.

OFDI in manufacturing has been particularly eye-catching in recent years, with related new capital investment expanding at an average pace of 15 percent between 2020 and last year, 10 percentage points higher than the overall OFDI growth rate, the report said. The proportion of new capital investment in manufacturing in China’s new OFDI jumped to 35 percent from 24 percent in the period.

Going global is an important way to survive and develop for many Chinese enterprises, said Wang Zhixuan, director of the Belt and Road Financial and Economic Development Research Center of the Xiamen National Accounting Institute. Companies must go global in a reasonable and compliant manner, make a feasible layout in industrial and supply chains, and avoid excessive and saturated competition overseas, he noted.

China’s outward non-financial direct investment rose 1.6 percent to CNY1 trillion (USD144 billion) in the period, with newly signed contracts for overseas engineering projects surging 8.5 percent to CNY2.1 trillion, according to MOF data.

Editor: Futura Costaglione