Of 295 companies planning to make investments in China, 174 said they will implement their plans as scheduled, while eight firms have abandoned their plans.

In addition, 111 companies said they will make new investments in China after putting off their initial plans, and two said they will change the sites of investment but will maintain their investment plans.

The survey was conducted on June 1-7 on 3,067 companies doing business in nine Asian economies outside Japan. It received replies from 1,974, or 64.4 percent, of them.

While 1,021 companies said their sales in the month remained unchanged, 129 respondents reported sales increases, the survey said. The remaining said their sales results are not clear yet.

With regard to business results in May, 557 companies, or 28.2 percent of all the respondents, reported sales drops as a result of SARS, it said.

(People's Daily June 25, 2003)