China says has not seen large-scale exodus of foreign capital amid coronavirus
Beijing is trying to restart its economic engines after weeks of near paralysis to contain the epidemic that had severely restricted business activity
China has not seen large-scale exodus of foreign capital even as the coronavirus pressures the business of companies with foreigninvestment, the commerce ministry said on Thursday.
Official data on Wednesday showed that foreign direct investment (FDI) into China plunged 10.8 percent in January-March from a year earlier, because of the coronavirus outbreak.
No country can arbitrarily change the global supply chains, said ministry spokesman Gao Feng in response to media reports that Japan and the United States were supporting firms to relocate back to their countries.
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"Currently, globalisation has been met with undertow, but the overall trend will not change," said Gao, adding that many Japanese firms had expressed a willingness to boost investment in China.
Beijing is trying to restart its economic engines after weeks of near paralysis to contain the epidemic that had severely restricted business activity, flow of goods and the daily life of people.
But as the virus rapidly spread to almost all of China's trading partners, severely restraining overseas demand, particularly in European and US markets, export orders have been scrapped.
As global demand tumbles, Chinese exporters are pivoting some of their capacity to meet domestic demand, said Gao.
But they have run into difficulties as they grapple with different sales channels, refitting production lines and building a domestic brand, he said.
