China will continue to embrace foreign investment from companies from the European Union, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

Ministry spokesman Sun Jiwen said China would encourage companies across the globe, including those from the European Union, to increase their investment.

China will not change its policies on absorbing foreign investment, and will continue to protect the legitimate rights of foreign-invested enterprise and offer better services to them.

Ministry of Commerce data shows 28 members of the European Union invested 53.47 billion yuan ($8.36 billion) between January and October, up 41.5 percent from the same period last year.

On average, the year-on-year growth of foreign investment in China was 4.2 percent in the same period.

To date, EU companies have set up more than 42,500 companies in China, while their investment exceeds 910 billion yuan.That accounts for 7 percent of the total value of investment absorbed by China.

"It is the markets and companies who have the final say on whether the investment environment is good or bad. The aforementioned statistics show European countries' real attitudes towards China," Sun said.