According to a public opinion poll done by CSA, a company that provides systems consulting and integration services, for the French branch office of Ernst & Young, one of the world's leading professional auditing organizations, 52 percent of the foreign investors have chosen China as the most attractive country for investment in 2005 as against 37 percent in 2004.

China still firmly holds the top position of the most attractive countries for foreign investment this year as it did in 2004, outpacing the US, who received 39 percent of the votes. However, the attractiveness of India and Poland, which take 18 percent and 17 percent of the votes this year respectively, has exceeded that of Germany (16 percent) and the UK (13 percent).

When considered as a region in the world, China leaps to the third from the fifth, standing behind Western Europe (63 percent this year as against 68 percent in 2004) and Central Europe and Eastern Europe (55 percent this year as against 57 percent in 2004), but ahead of the North America region (45 percent this year as against 38 percent in 2004).

As for the investment attractiveness of EU, the critical sentiment of enterprise leaders who accepted the interview intensified in 2005. Among the total interviewees, 37 percent (45 percent in 2004) believed that the changes of EU will be beneficial; 50 percent demanded the simplification of regulating measures between EU and its member countries; 49 percent called for the flexible handling of labour market and 44 percent demanded reform.

The result of this public opinion poll was obtained through telephone enquiry over 672 executives of international enterprises during March and April this year. The survey done by another French survey company shows that owners of French and EU SMEs have become more and more optimistic about the prospect of development in China and their investment intent has shifted from coastal metropolitans on the mainland to inland medium-and-small cities.

By People's Daily Online