Beijing CBD Photo: VCG

Actual foreign investment in China in 2021 reached 1.15 trillion yuan ($159.71 billion), ranked the second place in the world, increasing by 62.9 percent over 2012 levels, reflecting the remarkable results of China's continuous opening up in the past 10 years. 

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, announced on Thursday via a media conference that China's actual used foreign capital reached 892.74 billion yuan in the first eight months of 2022, representing double-digit growth over the same period in 2021 based on a relatively high number. 

The NDRC vowed to introduce the 2022 version of the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment to direct foreign investment to key sectors of manufacturing and producer services industry, leaning toward central western and northeastern China. 

Looking outward, the current number of overseas Chinese enterprises surpassed 45,000 from the nearly 22,000 at the end of 2012. Chinese investment overseas has increased to over $2.7 trillion to date from the $500 billion at the end of 2012, NDRC's data showed, boosting mutual benefits between China and the host countries.

From 2013 to 2021, Chinese investment overseas helped China reach $1.1 trillion of export volume, and the revenue of overseas Chinese enterprises surpassed $17 trillion. Overseas Chinese enterprises also worked on boosting host countries' development and living standards by paying over $340 billion in taxes, recruiting local employees and purchasing from local markets.

Since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was launched in 2013, China has signed over 200 cooperation documents with 149 countries and 32 international organizations under the initiative. Until the end of August 2022, the overall trade volume between China and BRI countries had reached about $12 trillion, with non-financial direct investment surpassing $140 billion, the NDRC said.

Global Times