961,000 foreign-invested firms established in China in 40 years

China has set up 961,000 foreign-invested enterprises by the end of 2018, with its actual use of foreign capital reaching $2.1 trillion, said a report released by the Ministry of Commerce.

The report was issued at the first Qingdao Multinationals Summit, which kicked off on Oct 19 in Qingdao in East China's Shandong province with a total of 115 Fortune 500 companies and 197 industry leaders attending.

The report said that as important participants, witnesses and beneficiaries, multinationals have played positive roles in China's 40-plus years of reform and opening-up. For 27 years in a row, China has attracted more foreign investment than any other developing country.

Although accounting for less than 3 percent of total companies in China, the foreign-invested enterprises have become an important player in the Chinese economy, contributing nearly half of the country's foreign trade, a quarter of the output value and profits of industrial enterprises and a fifth of tax revenue, according to the report.