Foreign-funded enterprises have made more than US$200 billion in post-tax profits in China since the 1990s, according to a senior commerce official.

Li Zhiqun, director of the Foreign Investment Department of the Ministry of Commerce, announced the figures on Saturday at a forum titled "Investing in Xi'an, Investing in the Future," held in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Currently China has approved the establishment of over 500,000 foreign-financed enterprises and has used US$270 billion of foreign funds.

Today these foreign-funded enterprises import over US$560 billion of goods annually.
To date corporations from 190 countries and regions worldwide have invested in China, including 450 of the Fortune global top 500 multinationals. Foreign investors have established more than 700 research and development centres in the country and over 40 multinational corporations have set up regional headquarters in China, said Li.

Li said economic globalization stimulated economic growth in China and has brought increasing opportunities for foreign investors.

The Chinese economy grew by an average 9.6 per cent annually from 1978 to 2005.

And according to the World Bank estimates, China's economic growth during the 2000-04 period contributed an average 14.3 per cent annually to world economic growth during the same period.

China's economic growth has attracted an increasing number of foreign investors, who have invested in both traditional industrial and manufacturing sectors and also new areas such as trade services, infrastructure construction in rural areas and cutting-edge technology, among others.

By the end of last year, foreign-funded enterprises in China had employed over 24 million local people.

The country has established a legal system for foreign trade and economic co-operation, which adapts to both China's drive to build a socialist market economy and the rules of the World Trade Organization, Li said.

China will continue to create a better investment environment for foreign investors and encourage foreign investors to pour more funds into the high-tech sector in the future, added Li.

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