China is expected to emerge as the Asian country to have attracted the most Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) last year, the UN Conference on Trade and Development reported in Geneva on Monday.
UNCTAD said its estimates showed that FDI, in the form of either mergers, acquisitions or the creation of new ventures, came to US$46.8 billion (53 billion euros) in 2001.
The agency added that China should continue to top the FDI table in the years ahead because of its formal admission to the World Trade Organization last December 11.
The UNCTAD study found that for South Korea, China is now a more attractive investment outlet than the United States.
A report from Japan's external trade organization, cited by UNCTAD, said a quarter of Japan's multinational corporations are about to or have already boosted their stakes in China.
The Japanese electronics concern Hitachi, for example, intends to invest US$800 million over the next five years in China and to increase the value of its production there to US$4 billion a year.
In addition, nearly two percent of Japanese multinationals operating in members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are contemplating closing down their operations there and moving to China.
Elsewhere in Asia, according to UNCTAD, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia saw a decline in FDI last year. The level was roughly unchanged in Thailand.
For all of Asia FDI declined from US$144 billion in 2000 to US$124 billion in 2001.
(China Daily January 22, 2002)
