Overseas investment in China declined in 1999 but remained at more than 40 billion US dollars both in contractual and materialized funds. The latest statistics show that China approved a total of 17,100 new overseas-invested ventures last year involving contractual investment of 41.238 billion US dollars.

The number of newly approved business dropped 13.8 percent and the investment was down21.3 percent compared with 1998.

Arrived overseas investment reached 40.398 billion US dollars last year, down 11.4 percent from 1998.

By the end of 1999, the total number of overseas-invested ventures ever approved hit 341,812, involving contractual investment of 613.762 billion US dollars, while arrived overseas investment was 307.851 billion US dollars.

Analysts blamed the decline of overseas investment on a surge of intra-investment among developed countries and the after effect of the Asian financial crisis.

Economic globalization has resulted in a change in world capital flow. The amount of cross-nation investment in 1998, for instance, doubled compared with that of 1997, and 90 percent of the investment was conducted among the developed countries.

In the meanwhile, one of China's main investors, the Asia-Pacific region, was hit hard by financial crisis with a subsequent decline in overseas investment.

In addition, investment in China from the European Union nations and the United States also declined.

But experts say China has new opportunities to attract investment this year as the country opens wider to the outside world.

China's national economy is maintaining steady growth and further reforms are being carried out, they point out, adding that the government has adopted new opening measures following the breakthrough in the process of entry into the World Trade Organization.

Asia's economy has gradually recovered as well.

"The amount of overseas investment in China will continue to be quite large in 2000, and this investment will flow to where China need it most," said one analyst, who preferred to remain anonymous.(Xinhua)