Golden opportunities for California

The state, now fifth in the United States in the value of investment from China, aims to climb higher by tapping its intrinsic strengths, Chen Jia and Joseph Boris report from Oakland, California

With China a top target for US municipalities and states seeking foreign investment, one destination can put a number on its potential appeal to Chinese capital: $60 billion.

By 2020, California could attract that amount from China, according to an October report from Rhodium Group, a consulting firm in New York that tracks Chinese outward investment.

Visitors enter an exhibit for Chinese solar energy companies at Intersolar North America 2011 in San Francisco, California, in July 2011. [Liu Yilin / Xinhua]

California accounts for more than a quarter of all Chinese investments in the United States, having notched 156 deals between 2000 and 2011. That was more than the other four top recipients - New York, Texas, Illinois and Michigan - combined.

But in terms of total investment value, California ranks fifth in the nation, with $1.3 billion from deals over the past 12 years, according to the report.

Through 2008, Chinese direct investment in the US was typically below $1 billion a year. Since soaring to just under $2 billion in 2009, activity has been growing at an unprecedented clip. From January to September, Rhodium said in a separate report, the figure hit $6.3 billion - eclipsing even the full-year record of 2010.

California in particular is poised to benefit from this upward trend. But it will have to grab a bigger chunk of Chinese investment on these shores to reach the Rhodium report's $60 billion target in eight years. That will happen only "if the state and private sector do a better job working together to attract Chinese capital", the report said.

"California is a good target for Chinese investors because we are looking for infrastructural development such as hotels and a baseball stadium," said Jean Quan, mayor of Oakland in northern California.

Quan expects increased investment from China, particularly in property development, which is so important to her city. This will be due in large part, she says, to US Congress' recent extension through September 2015 of the EB-5 visa program.

Under EB-5, an applicant is given permanent US residency if his investment of at least $1 million leads to 10 full-time jobs within two years. The threshold is just $500,000 if the jobs created are in a rural or high unemployment area of the US.

"This can guarantee a steady rate of return for stimulating purchases of bonds (for publicly funded development projects), and people are able to immigrate because of EB-5, so you'll see more of this in California," Quan said.