Top 10 Countries for Chinese Investments

7. United States

FDI 2004-2010: $3.4 billion

Chinese direct investment in the U.S. has been growing rapidly, nearly doubling in 2009 to $909 million from $462 million a year earlier and reaching $1.3 billion in 2010. But China is still a relatively minor player when it comes to FDI in America. Up to 95 percent of FDI in the U.S. comes from Europe and Canada.

By comparison, U.S. companies invested $3 billion in China in 2011. Chinese companies ... more 

7. United States

FDI 2004-2010: $3.4 billion

Chinese direct investment in the U.S. has been growing rapidly, nearly doubling in 2009 to $909 million from $462 million a year earlier and reaching $1.3 billion in 2010. But China is still a relatively minor player when it comes to FDI in America. Up to 95 percent of FDI in the U.S. comes from Europe and Canada.

By comparison, U.S. companies invested $3 billion in China in 2011. Chinese companies have been wary of investing in the U.S. because of the political outcry caused by some previous high-profile deals such as state-owned oil company CNOOC’s unsuccessful bid to acquire Unocal in 2005.

Since then, Chinese oil giants have been tiptoeing back into the U.S. energy market by acquiring minority stakes in American oil projects like CNOOC’s 2010 $1.1 billion deal with Chesapeake Energy to buy a 33 percent stake in shale oil fields in South Texas. Earlier this year, Sinopec paid Oklahoma-based Devon Energy $2.2 billion for a one-third stake in a 1.3-million-acre drilling property in Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere. Both deals allow the American company to keep full operating control, along with control over sales of oil and gas from the wells to avoid a political backlash.

Pictured: Drilling rig in Texas less