By Joe Cash
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s government devoted the week to a red carpet welcome for foreign executives to try to halt a retreat in corporate investment from a market once seen as the engine of global growth.
But many executives leave China with a shared caution: while things may not be getting worse, the risks of an expansion in China still outweigh the rewards, they say.
In a series of high-profile events, Chinese officials pledged equal treatment for foreign firms, expressed confidence China will hit its 5% growth target this year and President Xi Jinping held an audience with 15 U.S. business leaders to deliver the message that the theory of “peak China” was just hot air.
Foreign direct investment represents only 3% of total investment in China, but it has been falling for two consecutive years. Investment from overseas has been seen as a signal of confidence in the world’s second-largest economy and a way to sharpen the…
