Companies need to polish up PR skills

BEIJING - As a growing number of Chinese businesses venture overseas, they need to improve their public relations skills and work harder to safeguard their overseas interests, according to Chinese political scientists and strategists.

Over the past 30 years, China has invested in more than 170 countries and regions, with outbound direct foreign investment topping $170 billion.

In 2010, China's outbound direct investment reached $68.8 billion,up 21.7 percent year-on-year, ranking above developing countries and surpassing Japan and Germany to become the world's fifth-largest source of foreign direct investment outflows, according to the Xinhua News Agency.