Second, in terms of the stock of investments, the EU’s investments in China
were much bigger than China’s investments in the EU. According to statistics from
the MOFCOM, as of December 2003, 15 EU countries had invested in establishing
16,158 enterprises cumulatively. The contracted amount of investments from the
EU and the amount of investments actually realised by the EU were 65,943 million
USD and 37,872 million USD respectively. In terms of the cumulative amount of
actually used foreign investments, the EU was ranked No. 4 among
countries/territories making investments in China, after Hong Kong (China), the
USA and Japan. In the same period, China cumulatively invested in establishing
432 enterprises in 15 EU countries, and the contracted amount of investments from
China was 222 million USD, lower than 1 % of investments absorbed from the EU
by China.^4 According to data from Eurostat, as of 2011, China’s investments in the
EU accounted for only 1.4 % of investments from non-EU-member countries,
while the EU’s investments in China accounted for 20 % of the total foreign
investments absorbed by China; the EU was ranked No. 5 after Taiwan (China),
Hong Kong (China), the USA and Japan in terms of investments in China. In 2011,
China’s investments in the EU and the EU’s investments in China amounted to
3.1 billion EUR and 17.8 billion EUR respectively.^5 In 2012, China’s investments
in the EU and the EU’s investments in China were 3.5 billion EUR and 10 billion
EUR respectively.^6
Third, in the case of increment, the growth rate of China’s investments in the EU
was much higher than that of the EU’s investments in China. With the impact from
the European Debt Crisis, the EU’s investments in China have decelerated in recent
years. According to statistics from the MOFCOM, 24,925 foreign-funded enter-
prises were approved and newly established in January and December, 2012, down
10.1 % compared with the same period of the previous year; actually used foreign
investments amounted to 111.72 billion USD, down 3.7 %. Twenty-seven EU
countries actually invested 6.11 billion USD in China, down 3.8 %.^7
Meanwhile, China’s investments in the EU have rapidly grown in recent years.
According to statistics from the MOFCOM, China’s investments in the EU grew at
a doubled rate in 2010 on the basis of a 2.8-times growth in 2009, theflow of
China’s investments in the EU reached 6.76 billion USD in 2010, up 101.6 %,
accounting for 9.8 % of the grossflow, up 4 % points compared with the previous
year.^8 Since 2011, China’s investments in Europe grew for three consecutive years,
investmentflow stood at 8.25 billion USD, up 22.1 %, accounting for 11.1 %,
among which investments in the EU were 7561 million USD, up 26.8 % (see
Footnote 3) (see Table3.1).
(^4) http://fec.mofcom.gov.cn/article/zlyj/sywz/200501/961527_1.html.
(^5) DG Trade ( 2013 ).
(^6) EuroStat News Release ( 2013 ).
(^7) http://tjtb.mofcom.gov.cn/article/y/ab/201301/20130100010897.shtml.
(^8) The Ministry of Commerce, National Bureau of Statistics, State Administration of Foreign
Exchange:2010 Statistical Bulletin of China’s Foreign Direct Investments.
3 China-EU Economic and Trade Relations 75