NEW YORK, May 20 -- Growing Chinese direct investment is vital to the U.S. economy today, marking a new chapter in U.S.-China economic relations, a report said Wednesday.

The report, New Neighbors, co-released by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the Rhodium Group consultancy, said that from 2000 to 2014, Chinese firms have spent nearly 46 billion U.S. dollars on new establishments and acquisitions in the United States, most of them over the past five years.

Acquisitions mostly with a shift in ownership made up the majority of Chinese direct investment across the United States. The Chinese takeovers have saved companies from bankruptcy, provided new financial solutions, and in most cases, led to expansions, according to the report.

Chinese-affiliated businesses now directly employ more than80,000 Americans, said Daniel Rosen, partner of the Rhodium Group.

This long payroll was compared to less than 15,000 people five years ago, while excluding indirect employment, or an addition of tens of thousands of jobs.

There was no loss of innovation and competitive power for the U.S. companies with new Chinese owners, who were drawn to the United States mainly by its talent pool and strong protection of intellectual property rights, and are now investing a lot of money each year on research, according to the report.

The report also cited technology investors Tencent and Alibaba as important sources of capital for U.S. startups and early stage growth companies.

However, the current level of Chinese direct investment in the United States is only at a par with that of Japanese firms in the1980s, according to the report.

It predicted an inflow of between 100 billion and 200 billion dollars by 2020, and consequently an increase of between 200,000 and 400,000 full-time jobs, as long as the United States remains a destination for China's booming outward investment. Enditem