Foreign firms' profits total US$200bn

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Foreign firms' profits total US$200bn
XI'AN - Foreign-funded enterprises have recorded more than US$200 billion in after-tax profits in China since the 1990s, a senior Chinese commerce official said.
Li Zhiqun, director of the Foreign Investment Department of the Ministry of Commerce, announced the figures on May 20 at a forum: "Investing in Xi'an, Investing in the Future", held in Xi'an, the capital of northwest China's
[color=]Shaanxi
province.
Currently, China has approved the establishment of over 500,000 foreign-financed enterprises and has used $270 billion worth of foreign funds. These foreign-funded enterprises import over $560 billion of goods annually.
To date, corporations from 190 countries and regions worldwide have invested in China, including 450 of the "Fortune 500" multinational corporations listed annually by Fortune magazine. Foreign investors have established more than 700 research and development centers in China and over 40 multinational corporations have set up regional headquarters in the country, Li said.
Li said economic globalization stimulated economic growth in China and has brought increasing opportunities to foreign investors. Li said that the Chinese economy grew by an average 9.6% annually during the 1978-2005 period. According to World Bank estimates, China's economic growth during the 2000-2004 period contributed an average 14.3% annually to world economic growth during the same period, ranking second in the world.
China's economic growth attracted the attention of increasing number of foreign investors, who have invested in the traditional industrial and manufacturing sectors and also in new areas such as trade services, infrastructure construction in rural areas and high technology, among others.
By the end of last year, foreign-funded enterprises in China had employed over 24 million local people. China has established a legal system serving foreign trade and economic cooperation, which adapts to the demands of China's building of a socialist market economy and the rules of the World Trade Organization, Li said. China would continue to create a better investment environment for foreign investors and to encourage foreign investors to pour more funds into the high-tech sector in the future, Li said.
(Asia Pulse/XIC)