BEIJING, May 4 -- A survey of more than 600 foreign-funded companies, done by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, showed that these companies have growing confidence in the Chinese market.

More than 70 percent of the companies surveyed were optimistic about the development prospects of the Chinese market over the next five years, an increase of about 3.8 percentage points compared with the previous quarter.

More than half of the enterprises surveyed believed that the Chinese market had become more attractive, up 2.9 percentage points from the figure recorded in the previous quarter.

In addition, more than half of the companies expected that investing in China would generate increased profits over the next five years. Of these companies, 60 percent were from Europe.

The Chinese market still enjoys prominent comprehensive advantages in attracting foreign investment, said Zhao Ping, spokesperson of the council, citing favorable policies and a favorable investment environment, as well as China's high-standard opening-up endeavors.