US and Chinese local govts boost investment

According to a report from Rhodium Group in New York, an organization that monitors global financial trends, although Chinese investment has been rising rapidly in both the US and the European Union, the US has attracted half as much investment as the EU annually in the past two years. The gap was partly attributed to the difference in security concerns between the two, the report said.

But for Dominic Ng, chairman and CEO of EastWest Bank, the US federal government's restrictive measures against Chinese investment is not the mainstream of the bilateral economic relations.

And what is more important is that a "majority of US state governments are more than welcoming to the Chinese investment, as they want jobs and economic growth", Ng said.

"The next decade is the golden period for China's outbound investment in the US, and the nation must hold it firm," he said.

Analysts said China's investment in the US is still quite small. In 2012, China's investment in the US accounted for merely 0.5 percent of foreign direct investment in the US, the largest FDI recipient nation worldwide.

The US federal government defended itself against the Chinese companies' arguments.

During the Second China-US Governors Forum, Hanscom Smith, minister counselor for economic affairs at the US embassy in China, said that the US is an open economy, and "we treat China in the same way that we welcome foreign companies from the other parts of the world".

He added: "We welcome your investment."

Smith is optimistic about the future, saying the US is heralding a new investment wave from China. "In the past many years, we have seen expansionary growth for the Chinese investment in the US, and we believe in the potential for even greater growth in the future."

Chinese investment in the US generates "win-win opportunities for both", he added.