According to the "World Investment Prospects Survey 2010-2012" released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) last year, China tops the 14 other most attractive destinations for investment in the world and is the first choice of transnational corporations.
Commerce Minister Chen Deming said recently that China continues to blend into the global economy, complementing advantages with other countries and sharing benefits since joining into WTO. China has become an emerging market with a large scale and rapid growth, and China's strong development provides important force for Asia and even the whole world.
Upward trend in foreign investment will continue
Lately, some voices question whether China can continue to attract foreign investment since China's exchange rate keeps increasing along with labor costs.
However, scholars emphasized that China will continue attracting more foreign investment.
Regarding how China will use foreign investment in next step, Mei Xinyu believes China's share of introducing foreign investment will be larger in the world, especially those investments targeting China's domestic market.
In addition, with emerging benefits due to the stability of China's macro economy and politics, investments in China as "safe house" will increase, too.
Some scholars say the inflow of international capital eases the shortage of capital in China as it continues on the road of development and promotes the rapid growth of the export-oriented economy. At the same time, foreign direct investment upgrades the technical level and organization efficiency of China's economy and increases the production efficiency of its national economy.
From quantitative expansion to qualitative benefit
Some scholars think China's policies of introducing foreign investment for quantitative expansion must give way to policies for purchasing qualitative benefit since China has already become the second largest economy in the world.
Zhang Yansheng, the director of International Economic Research Office of NDRC, said China should bring more high grade foreign investment into through building a much open and competitive market.
"We should figure out whether absorbing foreign investment is the final goal or just a method and how can we develop ourselves through learning from others."
However, introducing foreign investment does not mean more is better. Experts point out that shifting from quantitative expansion to purchasing qualitative benefit is a new problem in China's development.