第四篇 Passage 4

In 2001, China’s utilization of foreign capital improved greatly, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) recently stated. This improvement indicates the emergence of China’s foreign capital utilization out of its sluggish state in previous years.

MOFTEC statistics indicate that China utilized US$41.9 billion of foreign capital in January-November 2001, up 15.61 percent over the same period in 2000. A total of 22,915 foreign-invested enterprises were approved for establishment, up 16.32 percent, with a contractual utilization of foreign capital totaling US$60.4 billion, up 24.38 percent. By the end of November 2001, China had totally approved 387,260 foreign-invested enterprises for establishment, with US$737.1 billion in contractual foreign capital and US$390.5 billion actually used.

In 2001, Shanghai witnessed the best record in foreign capital utilization. During January-November, foreign capital absorbed increased nearly 60 percent over the same period the previous year, with contractual utilization of foreign capital approaching US$6.97 billion, up 58.5 percent, and the actually utilized foreign capital reaching US$3.66 billion in the first 10 months, up 42.7 percent.

In January-October 2001, Beijing actually utilized US$3.24 billion in foreign capital, up 58.8 percent over the same period in 2000. A total of 77 major projects, with investment exceeding US$10 million each, were approved, up 22.2 percent over a year earlier, and 20 projects had an additional capital scale exceeding US$10 million. By late October, Beijing had approved a total of 16,776 foreign-invested enterprises, with a contractual utilization of foreign capital reaching US$34.68 billion and the actual utilization of foreign capital reaching US$24.84 billion, of which US$17.19 billion was FDI.

In addition to rapid growth in numbers, the quality of foreign capital utilization has improved. Since early 2001, Shanghai has approved a group of capital-intensive and technology-intensive projects, which has accelerated the development of the petrochemical, electronic information, biomedical, automotive and machinery industries. Furthermore, more high-tech and other large enterprises have been established. Some multinationals have established research and development centers in China. The level of foreign capital utilization has therefore increased. In Beijing, high-tech and other new sectors have been the focus of foreign capital, particularly the information technology (IT) industry, and service trade is also no longer confined to the real estate sector, but has extended to commerce, among other fields.

“Since the Chinese economy has maintained a steady development trend and China has become a formal member of the WTO, more and more investors are now optimistic about the Chinese market and the future of China in general, and have realized that the open China has an improved capital environment abounding in business opportunities.” Said Gao Yan, press spokesperson of MOFTEC, at the 90th Guangzhou Chinese Export Commodities Fair.