General

At present, against the background of the complex world economic situation and the overall situation of transnational investment, China has overcome the adverse effects of the external environment and made steady progress in foreign investment. According to customs data, in 2022, the foreign direct investment of the whole industry was 985.37 billion yuan, up 5.2% (equivalent to 146.5 billion dollars, up 0.9%). Among them, foreign non-financial direct investment was 785.94 billion yuan, up 7.2% (equivalent to 116.85 billion dollars, up 2.8%). The turnover of foreign contracted projects reached 1042.49 billion yuan, up 4.3% (equivalent to 154.99 billion dollars, basically the same as the previous year); The newly signed contract amount was 1702.17 billion yuan, up 2.1% (equivalent to 253.07 billion dollars, down 2.1%).

Many experts said in an interview that the steady and orderly development of China's foreign investment and cooperation, on the one hand, is due to China's insistence on opening up and further improving the level of an open economy; On the other hand, Chinese enterprises have accumulated certain advantages in technology level, management experience and resource network. They can effectively combine their own advantages with the resources of the host country through foreign investment to achieve a win-win situation between China and the host country.

From the perspective of overseas investment regions, customs data show that in 2022, China's investment cooperation with countries along the "the Belt and Road" will be steadily promoted. The non-financial direct investment of Chinese enterprises in the countries along the "the Belt and Road" was 20.97 billion US dollars, up 3.3%, accounting for 17.9% of the total in the same period; The turnover of contracted projects in countries along the line reached US $84.94 billion, and the newly signed contracts reached US $129.62 billion, accounting for 54.8% and 51.2% of the total respectively, making positive contributions to the high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road".

Luo Yongkun, associate researcher of the Southeast Asia and Oceania Institute of the China Institute of Modern International Relations, told reporters that China's investment in countries along the "the Belt and Road" has always maintained a rapid growth, especially during the epidemic, which shows that countries along the "the Belt and Road" have a strong demand for Chinese investment and the foundation for bilateral cooperation is solid. Among them, China's investment in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, South Asia and other surrounding regions is relatively strong, especially in Southeast Asian countries. This is due to the continuous release of the policy dividend of RCEP, which brings more investment increment between China and its member countries.

Zhang Xiaotao, dean of the School of International Economics and Trade of the Central University of Finance and Economics, director of the International Investment Research Center, and director of the Open Economic Development Research Center of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area Research Institute, told reporters that the infrastructure construction of developing countries along the "the Belt and Road" is relatively backward, and the demand for infrastructure connectivity is strong, bringing more opportunities for enterprise oriented and market-oriented investment. At the same time, Chinese enterprises "go out", creating a large number of jobs and jobs for the local, improving local infrastructure, and promoting the development of local industries.

From the perspective of industry, China's foreign investment in some industries has increased rapidly. According to customs data, in 2022, the funds invested in wholesale and retail industry will reach 21.1 billion US dollars, up 19.5% year on year, 21.6 billion US dollars in manufacturing industry, up 17.4%, and 38.76 billion US dollars in leasing and business services, up 5.8%.

Lu Yue, a professor of the National (Beijing) Institute of Opening up Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, said that foreign investment mainly flows to leasing and business services, wholesale and retail, manufacturing and other fields, mainly for the following reasons: First, China is accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, which has promoted the further optimization of the structure of foreign investment. Second, the pace of transformation and upgrading of traditional industries in various countries continues to accelerate, and the investment demand for various professional leasing and business services such as enterprise management services, consulting and investigation services is growing. Third, the global value chain has been restructured rapidly. High-end services represented by R&D, design, marketing and brand are increasingly in the leading position in the global value chain, and the demand for investment in the service industry in the international market is rising.

In addition, China's local foreign investment is active. According to customs data, local enterprises invested 93.92 billion US dollars in 2022, an increase of 13.1% over the previous year, accounting for 80.4% of the total. According to customs data, the foreign investment in the eastern region increased by 10.3%, accounting for 81.6% of local investment. Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shanghai ranked the top three in the scale of local foreign investment.

Looking ahead, global economic growth and geopolitics still have great uncertainties. Under the risk of inflation and recession, the willingness to invest abroad will be restrained to some extent. Industry insiders told reporters that under such circumstances, China's foreign investment should also be more stable and pragmatic. First of all, China should continue to improve the level of opening to the outside world and implement wider, broader and deeper opening to the outside world. Secondly, China should further optimize the layout of foreign investment, make efforts to the high-end layout of the global industrial chain, and further increase green space investment and overseas mergers and acquisitions in emerging industries with high technology content and high value-added, high-end services and consumer goods. Finally, we should improve the risk prevention and control and security system of foreign investment, strengthen the legal service guarantee, guide enterprises to strengthen compliance management, and prevent and resolve various risks of overseas politics, economy and security.