XIAMEN, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- "Select USA!" A U.S. commerce delegation chief told participants at China's largest investment and trade fair. For the debt-ridden Uncle Sam, China may represent money and hope.
At the 15th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT), which opened Wednesday in the southeastern city of Xiamen, nations are extending their "olive twigs" to Chinese investors.
Andrzej Juchniewicz, director of the China Representative Office of Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, said Poland's geographic location at the center of the European Union provides convenient transportation and well-educated labor that match Chinese businesses' preference of investing in auto making, manufacturing and IT industries.
"We are looking for Chinese investors. Actually many excellent Chinese enterprises, such as TCL, AOC and SANY Group have made great achievements in Poland. They sell their products across the EU," he said.
"Companies invest in America because it represents the world's largest fully developed single country economy, and our labor pool is one of the best educated, most productive, and most innovative in the world," said Barry Johnson, executive director of Select USA, the first U.S. government initiative aimed at attracting foreign investment, at a forum during the CIFIT.
"We have welcomed Chinese firms, continue to wish them well, and heartily hope that other Chinese companies will see their success and follow them to the United States," Johnson said.
According to a latest report released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), China's outbound direct investment (ODI) surged 21.7 percent year-on-year to 68.81 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, growing for the ninth straight year and recording an average annual growth rate of 49.9 percent.
Last year's ODI accounted for 5.2 percent of global capital flows and exceeded the ODI of both Japan and the United Kingdom for the first time to become the fifth largest in the world.
Decades of booming trade has allowed China to accumulate the world's largest foreign exchange reserve, which has accelerated its pace of overseas investment.
Chinese investment in the United States is beginning to grow dramatically. Between 2005 and 2010, China was the fastest growing source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States, Johnson said.
"Though the total stock of Chinese FDI in the United States now equals almost 6 billion, we in the U.S. see significant room for growth," he added.
MOC data showed China has invested in 178 countries and regions. By the end of last year, Chinese overseas investment had generated 11.7 billion U.S. dollars in tax revenue and created 780,000 jobs for local residents.
Along with China's deepening interaction with the world economy, however, some have cast doubts on China's overseas investment, especially within natural resources, energy and high-tech sectors. China's economic efforts have been categorized in some cases as "neo-colonialism," "resource exploitation," or as a threat to the national security of other countries.
Several years ago, China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) suffered a setback in its attempt to purchase Unocal, and later the Aluminum Corporation of China was frustrated by its failure to buy the Rio Tinto Group. In early 2011, China's Huawei Technologies Co. withdrew its agreement to buy the assets of 3Leaf Systems of the U.S. under pressure of the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment.
"In the 'going global' process undertaken by Chinese enterprises, we've got support from most countries, however, some countries and regions intended to exclude us on the excuse of national security," said Minister of Commerce Chen Deming.
"I think that isn't favorable to our common handling of the financial crises, nor favorable to (the world's economic) recovery as early as possible," Chen said.
He added that nations around the world should create an open and more comfortable environment for overseas investment to boost confidence amid the current global economic uncertainty.
Commenting on such a love-and-fear attitude toward Chinese capital, Johnson said some people just follow their feelings rather than observe the facts. The United States welcomes all businesses that are able to bring about employment and have good prospects.
It's quite unnecessary to worry about investment coming from China, said Andrea Goldstein, head of Global Relations at the Investment Division of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), citing the precedents of huge sums of investment in Europe from the United States in the 1960s and the global capital flow from Japan in the 1980s.
In this regard, the crucial issue is open dialogue and communication about relevant topics, Goldstein said. In the current global economic situation, China's overseas investment is of great significance to a balanced global development.