FDI door still wide open

Loud as they are, the complaints from some US companies about China's business climate sounds more like a case of crying wolf. It simply flies in the face of the record foreign direct investment (FDI) that China attracted in 2010.

It was reported that an annual survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai showed that an increasing number of US companies in China say the enforcement of intellectual property rights has deteriorated in the last year and that the regulatory environment is the biggest hurdle to doing business in the city.

Such a finding comes as President Hu Jintao begins a state visit to the United States, ostensibly giving more ammunition for those in the US who want to take a hawkish stance against China. But, while some individual US multinationals might have seen dwindling opportunities for investing and making big bucks in the world's second-largest economy, China is an undeniable profit center for the majority of US companies.