Similar action has been taken by Thyssenkrupp, a German industrial engineering conglomerate. Late last month, the company announced that one of its subsidiaries from the high-end manufacturing sector had launched a new production line with investment of 500 million yuan to produce seamless rolled rings for large megawatt wind turbines at its plant in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province.

It is the fourth time the company has invested in the factory since the plant was established in 2005. The new investment will boost the factory's production capacity by 150,000 metric tons.

Winfried Schulte, CEO of Thyssenkrupp Rothe Erde, a Thyssenkrupp subsidiary that supplies bearings and seamless rolled rings for various industrial applications, said: "China is one of the most important markets for our business. Wind turbines are designed gradually with a larger size and more megawatts. Seamless rolled rings of high quality are one of the key factors for safe operation."

In Beijing, Zhao Ping, vice-dean of the academy at the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that as well as benefiting from the nation's technological advances, many foreign companies see China as a gateway to the broader Asia-Pacific region. They also view investing in China as a means of gaining access to the country's vast network of supply chains and distribution channels.

This view is supported by the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce, which show that in the first half of this year, the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises in China reached 24,000, a year-on-year rise of 35.7 percent.