Think China Has A Big Stake In US Business? Not Yet

Washington - China holds almost $1 trillion in U.S. government bonds, but it's made only modest investments in the nuts and bolts of the U.S. economy.

China lags far behind its Asian and European competitors in direct investment in the U.S. — taking stakes in manufacturers, suppliers, warehouses and other businesses. In fact, cash-rich China is near the back of the pack.

Chinese companies invested only $791 million in U.S. firms in 2009, the last full year of data available from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. South Korean companies invested $12 billion, Japanese firms $264.2 billion, German firms $218 billion, and British companies $453 billion.

As Chinese President Hu Jintao visits the U.S. this week, he's likely to announce some new business deals, as has been his practice when visiting other nations.

To be sure, China's state companies are shopping abroad, just not here. A Chinese silicon company is preparing to buy a Norwegian metals giant for $2.6 billion. State-owned PetroChina invested almost $2 billion last year in Canadian oil producers. Late last year the China Petrochemical Corp. took a big stake in Brazilian offshore oil exploration.

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