(Yicai) Feb. 12 -- More than half of Japanese companies in China plan to invest more or the same amount as last year in the country this year, highlighting their growing positive sentiment, according to the findings of a survey by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Some 59 percent of respondents said they will increase or maintain their investment in China this year, up from 56 percent a year earlier, according to the survey report released yesterday.

However, Japan is emulating the United States by establishing a Committee on Foreign Investment to strengthen restrictions on technology exports to China. The move has led to rising uncertainty in the countries' tech ties.

Although the majority of Japanese companies still plan to expand or maintain investment in China, the continued advancement of Japan's "economic security policy" will cause some to adopt a more cautious attitude, Chen Zilei, president of the Shanghai Japan Society and director of the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics' Japan Economic Research Center, told Yicai.

About 35 percent of Japanese companies reported a jump in China revenue in the second half of last year from the first six months, up from 28 percent in the previous survey, with 35 percent also seeing growing profits, up from 31 percent.

Toyota Motor, Nidec, Asahi Kasei, Daiichi Sankyo, and Mitsubishi Electric were among several Japanese companies that have boosted investment in their projects in China since last year.

Hitachi Elevator's biggest factory and largest research and development team are both in China, Jia Yuhui, president of the Japanese elevators and escalators maker's country arm, recently said to Yicai.

In response to the structural shift in China's elevator market from "incremental growth" to a focus on "stock optimization and upgrades," modernization and the installation of units in existing buildings are becoming important aspects of improving people's livelihoods in the country, Jia pointed out, adding that the proportion of Hitachi's orders for modernization and installation in older buildings will likely keep rising.

"Mizuho Securities is poised to seize opportunities in cross-border bond underwriting and investment and financing matchmaking between Chinese and Japanese companies," Liu Ying, a practitioner at a foreign investment bank, said to Yicai, after the Japanese investment banking and securities firm set up a subsidiary in Beijing late last month.

Bilateral trade in goods between China and Japan has exceeded USD300 billion for years, jumping 4.5 percent to USD322.2 billion last year from 2024, according to customs data.

China is Japan's largest trading partner, with home appliances, batteries, and agricultural products among products for which Japan has a relatively high dependence on China, while trade in the opposite direction is dominated by semiconductor equipment and precision components.

The survey, conducted from Jan. 8 to 23, was sent out to around 8,000 companies, receiving 1,427 valid responses. It focused on companies' perceptions of their China operations during the second half of last year.

Editor: Martin Kadiev