The State Administration for Industry and Commerce said in the past 30 years, a total of 286,200 foreign-funded companies were approved to invest in China, Xinhua reported. Last year alone, the number was 37,888.

In January this year, China approved 2,918 foreign-funded companies, down 13.41 percent from the same month of last year.

The report said foreign-funded companies will find the environment more competitive as since January of this year, the government has introduced a unified corporate income tax law. Under it, the income tax rate for domestic and foreign companies would be the same at 25 percent instead of the previous rate of 25 for Chinese companies and 15 percent for foreign enterprises.

The report also said while fewer foreign companies are being approved, those coming to China now are larger.

The report said the majority of the new foreign firms are in the manufacturing sector.

Asia remains the biggest investment source for China, with 206,7000 firms, followed by North America, the European Union and Latin America.