Media paint false picture proclaiming foreign investment pulling out of China

SOME OVERSEAS MEDIA outlets have been trying to hype the notion that foreign companies are “withdrawing” their investments out of China. Economic Daily comments:

Whenever a transnational company shifts its factory from China to another country, some overseas media outlets will boldly proclaim “foreign investment withdraws”. In doing so they also paint a false picture of the economy as a whole.

Over the past 40 years of China’s reform and opening-up, it is natural for overseas capital to flow in and out. In the past few years, some transnational companies have closed certain branches in China because labor costs in China have been rising, and the economy is undergoing a restructuring process.

But the move of a few transnational companies is nothing compared with the overall economic situation. Moreover, it is nothing to be surprised at if a transnational company closes a branch in China, because there are always losers in market competition.

By hyping up the incidents, the media outlets are trying to denigrate China’s business environment and shape China’s domestic policies.

But contrary to what they try to persuade their readers into believing, foreign direct investment in China is growing, not declining. Over the past eight months, the amount of foreign capital that has entered China totaled $86.5 billion, 6.1 percent more than the same period last year.

One Japanese company is often cited by the foreign media outlets as an example of “capital leaving China”, but actually it has never left. It has closed a factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, as reported, but it has enlarged its factory in Shanghai.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the start of China’s reform and opening-up. The top leadership has already announced the decision to further deepen reform and open the country wider and it has begun to introduce new measures.

The favorable policies will attract more foreign companies to invest in China. They will grow together with China’s economy.