Opening the door to ODI

The surge in China's foreign exchange reserves, to a record more than $3 trillion by the end of March, has made it urgent for Beijing to encourage domestic companies to invest more abroad.

Such a growing outflow of Chinese investment would give a much-needed boost to many recipient economies if they can overcome their unjustified bias and take it as a joint commitment to a common future.

As a major beneficiary of foreign direct investment (FDI), China believes that much of its growth can be unequivocally credited to the $1-trillion of foreign funds it has absorbed over the past three decades.