FDI surges 24% in July

Foreign direct investment in China surged 24.13 percent from a year earlier to $9.41 billion in July, the largest expansion since March 2011 and also the sixth consecutive monthly increase since February, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The first half of this year saw foreign investors establishing 10,630 companies in China, down 9.18 percent year-on-year, while FDI inflow rose 4.9 percent year-on-year to $61.98 billion.

The country attracted $111.72 billion in FDI last year, down 3.7 percent from a year earlier.

"Foreign direct investment in China will grow steadily in 2013," said Huo Jianguo, president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a government think tank.

He added that China's further opening-up lies in easing the market access of foreign investment as well facilitating the management.

"As for manufacturing, the catalogue for encouraged industries is subject to further expand while easing access to the high-end manufacturing and the strategic emerging industries will bring in new capital. And the administration as well as approvals should be simplified. What's more, practical moves should be introduced to support foreign investment in services sectors," Huo said.

"The key issue in the near future is not expanding FDI size but diverting the spending into high-end and high value added industries and merging it with China's economic restructuring, which will bring great effectiveness," Huo said.