More than 40 percent of China's foreign investment companies are
in Beijing, according to new statistics - but the capital still
lags behind Shanghai.
China boasts about 350 foreign investment companies, among which
153 are in Beijing, said an official from the Beijing Investment
Promotion Bureau.
But Beijing was beaten by Shanghai, which had 165 foreign
investment companies by the end of 2007, according to the
Statistics Bureau of Shanghai.
Accounting for 1.4 percent of Beijing's foreign companies in
number, the investment companies raked in 35.4 percent of profit
and turned in 18 percent of tax altogether last year.
"Fast development of investment companies, to some extent, is a
symbol that the city has reached a relatively mature stage in
absorbing and utilizing foreign capital," an unnamed professor with
the Research Institute of International Business and Economics
under the Ministry of Commerce was quoted as saying.
(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2008)
