Time for investment overseas

China has a golden opportunity to push forward its foreign direct investment (FDI) strategy despite the global economic slowdown.

The country's performance, over the past one year, has surpassed some other major economies. Statistics show that China's total FDI outflow volume was as high as $53.4 billion last year - nearly twice as much as in 2007. This sharp rise is in stark contrast with the world's 20 percent decline in FDI. Of the total, $40.65 billion went to non-financial investment - 64 percent higher than the previous year. This year, the country's FDI is likely to exceed the use of the foreign capital invested in China.

China's accelerated outward investment steps have been largely based on its strategy for a new global industrial redistribution as well as lowering exchange rate risk and reducing excessive dependence on US treasury bonds. The move is expected to help push the country's much-needed economic structural transformation, accelerate its development from being a trade power to a capital one, and sharpen its edge in the world's ever-increasing capital competition.