There’s widely shared concern about FDI volatility. I’ve responded many times. The cause for FDI volatility is multi-fold, including economic and non-economic factors. FDI volatility also needs to be viewed from multiple perspectives.

Vertically speaking, China’s FDI remains at a historical high. From 2019 to 2021, China’s FDI attraction broke records for three years in a row. From January to November, 2022, actually utilized foreign investment reached RMB 1.16 trillion, the highest level over the same period on record. Given the high base in the first half of the year, it’s only normal for the FDI to fluctuate from January to November. Meanwhile, RMB 1.04 trillion in FDI attraction is still a historical high.

Horizontally speaking, global cross-border investment has been in a slump in recent years. An UNCTAD report shows that in 2022, global cross-border FDI dropped by 12.4% year-on-year and continued to contract in 2023. Since this year, multinationals have been following one another to China for visits and meetings, showing a strong interest in investing in China. From January to November, there were 48000 newly incorporated foreign-invested enterprises in China, up 36.2% year-on-year, testifying to the FDI momentum in China.

Structurally, as multinationals re-position their investment, China’s FDI structure keeps optimizing. From January to November, hi-tech industry attracted RMB 386.65 billion in FDI, accounting for 37.2% of the national total, 1.1 percentage points higher than the level of 2022. In breakdown, medical equipment and instrumentation manufacturing and electronics and communications equipment manufacturing registered growth of 27.6% and 5.5% respectively, and research and development and design reported 9.1% in FDI growth.

On the whole, the long-term stable and positive fundamentals of the Chinese economy haven’t changed. We will stay committed to high-level opening up. As the foreign investment policies show effects gradually, the Chinese market will be event more magnetic to foreign investment. Thank you.