China is still not a major capital exporter in the world, but a big country absorbing foreign investment.

Zhao Chuang, deputy director of the Foreign Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Commerce, made the remark at a China-Thailand Investment Seminar Friday.

It is not proper for some media to list China as a major capital exporter in the world, because in 2004 China's direct overseas investment was 3.62 billion US dollars, while the foreign direct investment (FDI) in China exceeded 60 billion US dollars, Zhao said.

In 2003, he said, China's direct overseas investment was 2.7 billion US dollars, but the FDI used by China was 52.7 billion US dollars.

From the beginning of China's reform and opening-up to the end of 2004, China's direct overseas investment totaled 37 billion US dollars, less than the one-year capital outflow of Britain, France and Germany, according to Zhao.

Last year the global transnational capital flow reached 612 billion US dollars, while China's capital export was only 3.62 billion US dollars, accounting for 0.5 percent, he said.

"So China, which is only a major country attracting FDI, has not become a major capital exporter in the world, " Zhao said.

China can be called a "potential" major capital exporter in the world, thanks to its high economic growth rates, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2005)