China remained a major destination for foreign investment in 2025, with actual use of foreign capital stable in scale and its structure further optimized, according to reports released at a transnational investment trends conference on Wednesday during the 26th China International Fair for Investment and Trade in Xiamen, Fujian province.
The conference, which was jointly held by China's Ministry of Commerce and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), released two reports: the Statistical Bulletin of FDI in China 2026 and the Chinese edition of the 2026 World Investment Report.
According to the Statistical Bulletin of FDI in China 2026, global foreign direct investment grew by 6 percent to reach 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2025, while China's actual use of foreign investment stood at 104.66 billion U.S. dollars.
The report says that more than 70,000 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in China in 2025, up 19.1 percent year on year, and that high-tech industries accounted for 32.3 percent of the foreign investment absorbed.
National-level economic and technological development zones and pilot free trade zones attracted 24.5 percent and 24.2 percent of China's total foreign investment, respectively. The total value of imports and exports by foreign-invested enterprises exceeded 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 29.2 percent of the country's total foreign trade.
"Economically, foreign investors have earned higher returns on their investments in China than in other countries. This favorable profitability is a major driver of continued foreign investment in China. On the policy side, we have implemented a series of measures to foster an internationalized, market-oriented, and law-based business environment, thereby providing safeguards for foreign-funded operations in China," said Pan Yuanyuan, head of the editorial department of World Economic Research at the Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
The 2026 World Investment Report shows that global foreign direct investment inflows to developed economies grew by 11 percent, while those to developing economies increased by only 2 percent last year, indicating that cross-border investment is undergoing new structural changes.
"We can see that while global investment grew over the past year, the growth has been highly uneven, and the recovery remains fragile. Regional performance is also markedly unbalanced, with 80 percent of global investment going to the top 20 countries. It means that many developing countries still face significant challenges in attracting foreign investment and promoting development," said Li Nan, director of the Division on Investment and Enterprise at UNCTAD.
The report also shows that strategic industries, including artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductors, critical minerals, and energy transition technologies and services, accounted for 44 percent of global greenfield investment project value in 2025, up from 16 percent in 2020.
China remains major destination for foreign investment in 2025: reports
