There were 29,591 newly established foreign-invested enterprises in China during the first half of 2018, an increase of 96.6 percent, said spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, Gao Feng, at a press conference held on July 12.

The huge increase introduced four characteristics present in the absorption of foreign capital in China over the first six months of the year, the first being the rapid increase of newly established enterprises created using foreign investment, mentioned above, gaining RMB 446 billion in foreign capital.

The second characteristic was the steady growth of the high-tech manufacturing industry. It saw a utilized foreign investment of RMB 43.4 billion and a growth of 25.3 percent. Through this investment, the electronic and communication equipment manufacturing industry, computer and office equipment manufacturing industry and medical equipment manufacturing industry increased by 36 percent, 31.7 percent and 179.6 percent respectively. 

Third, pilot free trade zones meant there was a growth of investment throughout the whole country, the foreign investment of 4,281 enterprises from 11 pilot free trade zones reaching RMB 57.8 billion, a growth of 32.60 percent. Western China received foreign investment worth RMB 28.8 billion, an increase of 13.2 percent.

Finally, investment from China's main sources including the United States, Singapore, Korea and the United Kingdom kept growing. The year-on-year growth of investment in China from these countries are 29.1 percent, 19.7 percent, 43.8 percent and 82.5 percent respectively.