Earlier this month, the Canadian Parliament's Special Committee on the Canada–People’s Republic of China Relationship held a meeting that focused on Canadian investment funds and their investments in China.

At last week's Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference, Shanghai government officials announced cash rewards of up to 100 million yuan (approximately US$14.5 million) to attract foreign investment, and subsidies for loan interest, housing, and equipment.

The Shanghai government recently published new measures to promote trade and foreign investment, in part to "proactively respond to various challenges brought by the complex external environment."

Chinese officials met with a number of executives of international firms, including Qualcomm, Apple, BMW and Mercedes, on the sideline of the China Development Forum, and vowed to continue opening-up and discussed prospects for further collaboration.

How is foreign investment doing in China? It depends who you ask. The Chinese government has worked to attract foreign investment, but in the face of economic slowdowns and a challenging international policy environment, it will have to do more to beef up international economic engagement in this area.

In a recent episode of the Trade Talks podcast, host Chad Bown talked to Cindy Whang of Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan about "Why Taiwan restricts high-tech investment into China."

New Chinese Premier Li Qiang had his first press conference today as China's premier, and tried to send some positive signals about economic development, the private sector and the U.S.-China relationship.