The quantity and quality of China's outbound investment are rising

  Another first in the open field!

Recently, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Bureau of Statistics and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange released the "Statistical Bulletin of China's Foreign Direct Investment in 2020" (hereinafter referred to as the "Communiqué"), showing that China's foreign direct investment will be US$153.71 billion in 2020, and the scale of flow will rank first in the world for the first time. First.

  In 2020, facing the severe impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic on the world economy, China's foreign investment cooperation has not stopped.

All kinds of powerful and reputable Chinese enterprises are speeding up "going out" and actively participating in international competition and cooperation. China's foreign direct investment has achieved steady, healthy and orderly development, and has delivered a beautiful report card.

  Foreign investment flows accounted for 20.2% of the world

  In Junhe Pumps, a private enterprise located in Haishu District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, General Manager Zhang Junbo is busy communicating with the company’s technicians about the construction of two new pump projects.

In recent years, in order to better meet the needs of European and American orders, the company has set up two companies in North America and Europe to increase the research and development of special products in response to the needs of customers in the local market.

"The steady growth of foreign investment has injected confidence into our new projects in Malaysia." Zhang Junbo said.

  Behind the active foreign investment of enterprises is the continuous increase in quantity and quality of China's foreign investment for many years, maintaining high-quality development.

  In terms of "volume", foreign investment continues to remain generally active-looking at the flow, China's foreign direct investment in 2020 is US$153.71 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12.3%, and the scale of flow ranks first in the world for the first time; China's influence in global foreign direct investment Power continues to expand, with traffic accounting for more than 10% of global traffic for 5 consecutive years, and 20.2% in 2020.

Looking at the stock, as of the end of 2020, China's foreign direct investment stock reached US$2.58 trillion, ranking third in the world. The stock size accounted for 6.6% of the world, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the previous year.

On the whole, the scale of China's foreign direct investment is slightly higher than the scale of foreign investment, and the two-way investment is basically the same, and the introduction and going out are developing simultaneously.

  In terms of "quality", the investment field is becoming more extensive and the investment structure is continuously optimized. In 2020, China's foreign direct investment will cover 18 major sectors of the national economy, and nearly 70% of the investment will go to leasing and business services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, In the financial sector, the investment flows of the four major industries all exceed US$10 billion.

At the end of 2020, 80% of China's foreign direct investment stock will be concentrated in the service industry, mainly in leasing and business services, wholesale and retail, information transmission/software and information technology services, finance, real estate, transportation/warehousing and postal services.

  From the perspective of "subjects", various foreign investment entities are advancing together-the investment scale of non-public economic holding entities is roughly the same as that of public economic holding entities. In 2020, foreign non-financial investment flows of foreign non-public economic holdings of domestic investors will invest 67.16 billion yuan U.S. dollars, accounting for 50.1%, a year-on-year increase of 14.1%; domestic investors controlled by the public economy invested 66.89 billion US dollars, accounting for 49.9%, a year-on-year increase of 15.1%.

Over 60% of the investment comes from local enterprises.

  In an interview with our reporter, Professor Ge Shunqi of the Institute of International Economics of Nankai University said that in recent years, China has continued to promote a higher level of opening to the outside world, and foreign investment and cooperation have continuously achieved new results.

The "Communiqué" presents many bright spots, such as maintaining a relatively high level of reinvestment of foreign direct investment income, and the investment scale of non-public economic holding entities surpassing public economic holding entities, etc., indicating that Chinese enterprises have achieved good results in actively integrating into the global value chain, and their international competitiveness has The ability to invest abroad continues to improve."

  Covering more than 80% of countries in the world

  On the shore of the Aegean Sea, huge ships gather at the container terminal of Piraeus Port in Greece.

Once upon a time, the port equipment was old and decayed.

According to Tassos Vamvakidis, the commercial manager of COSCO SHIPPING Ports Piraeus Terminal Co., Ltd. (PCT), it was the takeover of Chinese investors that made this terminal out of its predicament and ushered in a new life.

  Since Chinese companies formally participated in port operations in 2010, the Port of Piraeus has developed rapidly.

During this period, taking advantage of the high quality of the “Belt and Road” initiative, COSCO SHIPPING acquired a majority stake in the Port Authority of Piraeus in 2016 and established the PCT, with operations covering the entire Port of Piraeus.

A few days ago, the second-phase equity delivery text exchange ceremony of the Piraeus Port Authority of Greece was held in a video connection mode, marking the completion of the second-phase equity delivery of COSCO Shipping Group's acquisition of Piraeus Port.

"What we are talking about is actually a completely different port. Now the port has new equipment, new infrastructure and new technology." Vamvakidis said.

  In recent years, investment from China has flowed to various countries (regions) around the world, promoting mutual benefit and win-win results.

By the end of 2020, 28,000 Chinese domestic investors had established 45,000 foreign direct investment companies in 189 countries (regions) around the world, and more than 80% of the world’s countries (regions) had Chinese investment. At the end of the year, the total assets of overseas companies were US$7.9 trillion. .

Among them, the countries along the “Belt and Road” are important investment destinations.

  In the eight years since the “Belt and Road” initiative was put forward, China's investment in countries along the route has maintained steady growth.

  In terms of investment scale-looking at the stock, at the end of 2020, the stock of direct investment by Chinese domestic investors in the countries along the “Belt and Road” reached US$200.79 billion, accounting for 7.8% of the total stock; from 2013 to 2020, China’s cumulative direct investment in countries along the route was 1398.5 One hundred million U.S. dollars.

Looking at the flow, in 2020, Chinese domestic investors set up more than 11,000 overseas companies in countries along the route, and realized direct investment of 22.54 billion U.S. dollars that year, a significant increase of 20.6% year-on-year, accounting for 14.7% of the same period; in addition, in 2020, Chinese companies will Countries along the "One Road" implemented 84 M&A projects, with a total value of US$3.15 billion, accounting for 11.1% of the total amount of M&A.

  In terms of investment structure-looking at the composition of countries, the stock of China's investment in countries along the "Belt and Road" is mainly distributed in Singapore, Indonesia, Russia, Malaysia, Laos and other countries.

Looking at the industry composition, China’s investment in countries along the “Belt and Road” mainly flows to manufacturing. In 2020, the investment scale will reach 7.68 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 13.1% year-on-year, accounting for more than one-third. The scale of investment in wholesale and retail industries also maintains a relatively high proportion.

  "China has made great progress in investment cooperation with countries along the'Belt and Road', and a pattern of'win-win and multi-win' with the host country's government, enterprises and the public has gradually formed, which increasingly highlights the process of'financial integration' in the high-quality joint construction of the'Belt and Road' An important role in the process." Ge Shunqi said.

  "Going out" to promote mutual benefit and win-win

  China’s investment in "going global" has made great strides to contribute to the realization of mutual benefit, win-win and common development between China and other countries in the world.

  From 2010 to 2019, the container throughput of the Port of Piraeus increased from 880,000 TEUs to 5.65 million TEUs, making it the largest port in the Mediterranean, and the port contributed more than 600 million euros to Greece's direct economy.

"The Piraeus Port project is of great significance to the local economic and social development and the improvement of people's lives." Vamvakidis introduced that the Piraeus Port project has created more than 3,000 direct jobs and data for the local area. Tens of thousands of indirect employment opportunities.

  It is understood that since the relevant departments of China released annual statistics on foreign direct investment in 2003, China has ranked among the top 3 in the scale of global foreign direct investment flows for 9 consecutive years, and its contribution to the world economy has become increasingly prominent.

In terms of tax contribution, in 2020, overseas Chinese-funded enterprises will pay a total of 44.5 billion U.S. dollars in various taxes to the countries and regions where they invest.

In terms of job creation, in 2020, overseas Chinese-funded enterprises will employ 2.188 million foreign employees.

"Investment from China has brought tangible development opportunities to the country and region where it is located." Ge Shunqi said.

  At the same time, foreign investment has also played an important role in stimulating China's economic and social development.

  "In the process of'going out', the company's North American business achieved growth against the trend, with a three-year compound growth rate of 16.7%. We also achieved higher added value of products through the construction of digital factories." Zhang Junbo introduced, through foreign investment , The company's products can not only meet customer needs, but also lead the market trend.

According to the "Communiqué", in 2020, foreign investment will drive China's exports of goods to US$173.7 billion, accounting for 6.7% of China's total exports of goods.

Overseas Chinese-funded enterprises achieved sales revenue of US$2.4 trillion that year.

  In the future, how to continue to promote the high-quality development of China's foreign investment and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results for both China and the host country?

  Ge Shunqi analyzed that opportunities and risks coexist in the development prospects of China's foreign investment cooperation. "Since the spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic around the world, countries around the world have tightened foreign investment policies, which has added uncertainty to the acceleration of Chinese enterprises' foreign investment cooperation to "go global." "At the same time, Chinese companies are also facing risks in exchange rates and standards in foreign investment and cooperation.

To this end, enterprises should actively improve their ability to resist risks in foreign investment and promote China's foreign investment cooperation to a higher level.

  "First, we should continue to expand and strengthen overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, and provide reliable carriers for companies to collaborate and resist risks in terms of bargaining, operation, safety, and social responsibility. Second, we should actively guide companies to become consciously socially responsible and host countries. Welcome to multinational companies. Third, continue to build a systematic foreign investment promotion and service system, including a mature quasi-out system, facilitation system and incentive policies, to escort companies’ foreign investment cooperation. Fourth, there are global investment policies. In the context of tightening, on the one hand, the door to openness should be opened wider and wider, and on the other hand, companies should be guided to actively integrate into the current international investment rule governance system, and promote the high-quality development of China’s opening up by optimizing the strategic layout of two-way investment." Ge Shunqi said .

Wang Wenzheng