Foreign direct investment to maintain healthy momentum in first half of 2019

China's ability to attract foreign direct investment in high-end manufacturing and high-tech service business will remain steady in the first half of 2019, as the country's economy is on the track for a new era of consumption-led growth and high-quality development, said government officials.

They made the remarks after the Ministry of Commerce said that China attracted 25.97 billion yuan ($3.87 billion) of foreign direct investment in the field of high-end manufacturing and 40.67 billion yuan of FDI in the areas of high-tech service sector in the first quarter of this year, growing 14.8 percent and 88 percent year-on-year respectively.

Thanks to the government resolve to attract more FDI through the newly passed Foreign Investment Law, tightened protection on intellectual property, segments newly identified as key to sustained growth - automation, digitalization, financial services, railway equipment, environmental technology and renewable energy - are expected to benefit, said Xin Guobin, vice-minister of industry and information technology.