China’s investment overseas grows steadily despite trade tensions: report

Nation’s investment overseas has steady gains despite trade clash

China's investment in overseas destinations posted steady growth in the first seven months of 2018 despite increasing restrictions imposed by US and EU regulators on Chinese investors amid escalating trade tensions, a report showed on Thursday.

From January to July, China's non-financial foreign direct investment (FDI) expanded 14.1 percent year-on-year to $65.27 billion, according to a report issued by the China Council for the promotion of International Trade (CCpIT).

As of the end of 2017, China's cumulative FDI was $1.482 trillion, ranking No.8 in the global market, the report showed.

"China's investment outflow is now at its peak, and the growing limits Chinese companies faced in overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have not affected the steady growth momentum of FDI," Zhao ping, the director of the international trade department at CCpIT, was quoted as saying in the report.

Zhao also forecast that China's FDI will continue to post high-speed growth despite some negative impact from rising trade friction with the US.

In the first half of 2018, China's investment experienced a sharp decline in the US, while the EU jumped to become the top destination for domestic investors' overseas M&A, according to another report by research firm pwC.