Foreign companies know where bread is buttered

There have been many reports about foreign investment closing up shop in China and fleeing to other emerging markets. For as Sino-US trade frictions continue to chill the investment environment, doomsayers are quick to point out any signs they perceive portending a coming winter for the Chinese economy. In their eyes, China is fast losing its allure as the world's top magnet for foreign investment.

To see the fallacy of such an assumption one needs only to look at the German automaker BMW AG, which announced on Thursday it will spend 3.6 billion euros ($4.1 billion) to increase its stake in its Chinese joint venture in Shenyang from 50 percent to 75 percent.

The German company, the first to take advantage of China's new policy to let foreign firms take majority control of their local partnerships, sees the additional investment as a major step in its strategy to consolidate its foothold in the world's largest car market.