Contractual overseas direct investment in the Chinese mainland surged 49.2 percent in the first quarter, indicating that China is still a top attraction for foreign capital.

A Ministry of Commerce report released Tuesday shows that while contractual direct investment in the mainland hit US$34.3 billion in the January-March period, materialized overseas investment rose 7.5 percent year-on-year to US$14.1 billion.

The mainland approved a total of 10,312 new overseas-invested ventures in the three months, up 19.6 percent.

Top investors were Hong Kong, the British Virgin Islands, South Korea, Japan, the United States and China's Taiwan Province. The top ten accounted for 86.1 percent of overseas direct investment.

By the end of March, the Chinese mainland had approved a total of 476,000 overseas-invested firms, involving US$977.4 billion of contractual investment and US$515.5 billion of arrived investment.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2004)