Investors remain optimistic on China

Foreign investors remain optimistic about China, and there won't be large-scale withdrawal of foreign investment from the market despite the novel coronavirus outbreak, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

Although the epidemic has had a certain impact on foreign enterprises operating in China, on the whole there never has been and never will be large-scale withdrawal of foreign investment from the market, Gao Feng, spokesman for the ministry, said at a weekly news briefing.

Foreign investors have not changed their confidence in their long-term business development in the Chinese market, Gao said.

As of Tuesday, 72.8 percent of 8,700 surveyed major foreign enterprises have a business activities resumption rate of more than 70 percent. The rate grew by 0.9 percentage point compared with last week, the ministry said.

Over the weekend, Forbes reported that White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the United States would lure its companies to move back from China "with full, immediate expensing". Japan also announced that it would spend up to $2.2 billion to move some Japanese firms' overseas plants either back home or to Southeast Asian economies.

Gao said many Japanese companies have expressed their confidence in the Chinese market and their willingness to invest further.

According to a recent study prepared by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, 75 percent of surveyed US companies said they will not change their reinvestment plans regardless of the outbreak's impact.

"China remains a hot spot for foreign investment," Gao said. "Facing global challenges, China is willing to strengthen cooperation with all parties and work together with them to ensure the openness, stability and safety of the global supply chain. "

Some multinationals have accelerated their pace of investing in China in spite of the contagion. US electric automaker Tesla Inc opened its virtual store on China's Tmall site on Thursday, a fresh sign of its deepened footprint in the country following the rollout of the company's locally made Model 3.

Customers of Tmall, part of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, can reserve a test drive of Tesla's Model S, Model X and Model 3 vehicles through the site and purchase accessories, such as home-use battery chargers, Tmall said in a news release.

Anne Richards, CEO of US-based investment management company Fidelity International, said: "China has been one of the key drivers in global economic growth over the past few years. We look to China to help steer the global economy out of difficulty again."

The company's long-term business plan and commitment to China is unchanged, Richards told the China Development Forum.

US retail giant Costco also has said it will open its second store in the Chinese mainland, and Toyota Motor Corp of Japan announced that it will build a new electric vehicle plant in Tianjin.