BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) - China remained the world's second-largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2019 with FDI inflow up 5.8 percent year on year to 941.5 billion yuan (137.24 billion US dollars) in 2019, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

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More than 40,000 new foreign-funded enterprises were established last year, said Qian Keming, vice minister of commerce, at a press conference.

The number of projects receiving FDI above 100 million U.S. dollars stood at 834 in 2019, up 15.8 percent from a year earlier.

The structure of FDI has been optimizing as 266 billion yuan of FDI went to the high-tech sector in 2019, up 25.6 percent year on year, accounting for 28.3 percent of the total FDI.

Investment from Singapore climbed 51.1 percent year on year in 2019, that from the Netherlands expanded 43.1 percent and that from the Republic of Korea rose 21.7 percent.

Pilot free trade zones (FTZs) have played a larger role in attracting investment.

All of the 18 pilot FTZs saw 6,242 new foreign-funded enterprises set up in 2019. FDI inflows into the pilot FTZs reach 143.6 billion yuan, accounting for 15 percent of the total.