On February 19th, the Ministry of Commerce released data showing that in January 2025, there were 4229 newly established foreign-invested enterprises nationwide, a year-on-year decrease of 7.8%; The actual amount of foreign investment used was 97.59 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 13.4% and a month on month increase of 27.5%. From an industry perspective, the actual use of foreign investment in the manufacturing industry was 28.78 billion yuan, while the actual use of foreign investment in the service industry was 66.78 billion yuan. The actual use of foreign investment in high-tech manufacturing industry was 12.24 billion yuan, accounting for 12.5% of the total actual use of foreign investment in China, an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to the whole year of 2024. The actual use of foreign investment in pharmaceutical manufacturing and technology transfer services increased by 68.4% and 23.9% respectively. From the source, actual investment in China by the UK, South Korea, the Netherlands, and Japan increased by 324.4%, 104.3%, 76.1%, and 40.7% respectively (including investment data through free ports). Professor Chen Jianwei from the National Institute of Opening up at the University of International Business and Economics stated in an interview with reporters that although the amount of foreign investment absorbed in China in January decreased year-on-year, the month on month growth and structural optimization coexist, indicating that China's attractiveness to foreign investment is undergoing "structural reshaping" and "transformation and upgrading". Specifically, the increasing proportion of foreign investment in high-tech manufacturing and service industries indicates that foreign investment is accelerating towards high-quality development areas; The significant increase in investment from some sources in China reflects the strong attractiveness of the Chinese market to specific countries and regions Chen Jianwei stated. Liu Xiangdong, Deputy Director of the Economic Research Department of the China Center for International Economic Exchange, told reporters that China's absorption of foreign investment decreased in January, which was influenced by both pre base factors and short-term fluctuations. Overall, stabilizing foreign investment is facing significant pressure. However, China has shown new highlights in the structure of foreign investment absorption, with high growth in actual use of foreign investment in industries such as pharmaceutical manufacturing and technology transfer services. In the opinion of the interviewed experts, China has many favorable conditions for attracting foreign investment. Liu Xiangdong stated that firstly, China's vast consumer market and constantly upgrading consumer demand provide vast development space for foreign-funded enterprises; Secondly, the "2025 Action Plan for Stabilizing Foreign Investment" recently released by the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission proposes measures such as "expanding pilot programs for opening up telecommunications, healthcare, education, and other fields" and "promoting orderly opening up of the biopharmaceutical industry", which will help attract foreign investment into related fields and provide greater development space and opportunities for foreign investment; Thirdly, China continues to promote high-level opening up to the outside world and continuously optimize the environment for foreign investment, providing strong guarantees for the development of foreign-funded enterprises in China. This will effectively boost the confidence of foreign investment. So, how do foreign investors feel about investing and operating in China? Yang Fan, spokesperson for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, previously stated at a regular press conference in January that recently, authoritative consulting firms and foreign business associations have released survey reports or early year outlooks. For example, the German Chamber of Commerce in China has released the Chinese version of the "2024-2025 German Enterprises in China: Business Confidence Survey Report", with a total of 546 German enterprises in China participating in the survey. According to feedback from interviewed German companies, the reason for long-term investment in China is not only due to its huge market size, but also to its market vitality, abundant talent resources, complete industrial chain supporting facilities, and advanced infrastructure advantages Yang Fan said that all of these fully prove that China is still a hot spot for foreign investment and development. Regarding the situation of attracting foreign investment in 2025, Chen Jianwei believes that China's attraction of foreign investment will show a trend of "stability and optimization" in 2025. We should not only see the impact of the complex changes in the world political and economic landscape on China's investment attraction, but also the practical actions of China's expansion of opening up. There is reason to believe that China will optimize the structure and improve the quality of foreign investment through "attracting businesses with quality". With the implementation of measures to stabilize foreign investment, it will gradually promote the stabilization of actual use of foreign investment. (New Society)