Although the pneumonia outbreak will affect the Chinese economy to a certain extent, many officials from international institutions and other kinds of experts still believe that the Chinese economy will remain sound over the long term.

The Chinese government has rolled out various measures to reduce the impact of the epidemic, said Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), adding that it is generally believed the Chinese economy will rebound in the second quarter of this year.

Her idea was echoed by 40 economists in the world that were recently interviewed by the international news organization Reuters.

“We are confident that the effect of the epidemic is only temporary and can be controlled and foreign companies will certainly resume normal operations and foreign investment will maintain sound growth,” said Wei Jianguo, vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE).

Last month, a total of 3,485 new foreign-funded enterprises were established in China, with foreign direct investment (FDI) expanding 4 percent year on year to 87.6 billion yuan.

As the new foreign investment law has started to take effect and the fact that the negative list for foreign investment will be further cut this year, China maintains itself as one of the best investment choices for multinational corporations amid the sluggish world economy, said Wei.

A survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China suggests that 55 percent of the interviewed companies considered it too soon to decide exactly what the impact of the pneumonia outbreak on their business strategies in the next three to five years might be. Meanwhile, 34 percent of the companies believe that the epidemic won’t influence their business strategies.

China's FDI is expected to maintain the momentum it had in 2019 and may even exceed that of last year with the country intensifying reform and opening-up, Wei pointed out.