Hong Kong: Foreign direct investment in China, the world's fastest-growing major economy, rose 13.9 per cent in January from a year earlier, as investment climbed to $5.18 billion, the Chinese ministry of commerce said today.

Overseas companies invest in China because of low labour costs and a vast market of 1.3 billion people, whose disposable incomes are rising by more than 10 per cent a year.

Foreign investment and record trade surpluses have pushed the country's foreign-exchange reserves to a world record $1 trillion.

Foreign investment is at "a sustainable level" after surging before China joined the world trade organisation in 2001.