US firms upbeat about China

US companies in China remain committed to, and highly optimistic about, the long-term prospects of the domestic economy, the 2009 White Paper on the state of American business in China, released yesterday by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), showed.

The country was still a top investment priority for American businesses, the paper said. According to a survey carried out by AmCham, 22 percent of its members said China was their No 1 global investment destination. Between 75 and 78 percent have ranked the country as a top-three investment destination every year since 2004.

Although the outlook for 2009 was considerably less optimistic than responses in recent years, US firms consistently reported being profitable in China. For 2008, 74 percent of members reported being "profitable" or "very profitable", according to the White Paper.