Tech: China ‘paying close attention’ to shift

“We are paying close attention to it, and will assess the potential impact on Chinese companies,” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, Beijing time.

On Monday, the Foreign Ministry said Chinese investment has created jobs while increasing tax revenues in the US.

“China-US trade, investment and cooperation are mutually beneficial in nature,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular news conference. “We hope the US can view Chinese companies’ commercial activities in an objective way, and provide a fair, sound and predictable investment environment.”

Acquisitions and greenfield investments from China are projected to trickle to $1.8 billion in the first half of this year, a drop by more than 90 percent compared with the same period last year, the lowest level in seven years, according to Rhodium Group LLC, a New York-based research firm.

Foreign direct investment from China to the US plummeted 30 percent in 2017 compared to a record high in 2016, according to the 2018 Annual Business Survey Report on Chinese Enterprises in the United States released by the China General Chamber of Commerce – USA last Wednesday.

Speaking at a reception that released the survey, US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said investment from Chinese-affiliated companies has amounted to $73.4 billion in the US, and the companies directly employed 77,000 Americans.

“Increasingly, these companies are exporting goods back to China. This is a positive trend that can help address the bilateral trade deficit between our countries,” Ross said.