China's new US$200 billion (¤136 billion) investment fund will spend two-thirds of its money at home, said a Finance Ministry official quoted Thursday by state media, making its foreign ambitions look less aggressive than once thought. Beijing's announcement that it would create one of the world's richest investment agencies fueled growing scrutiny of such state-run funds and unease about their possible motives. Vice Finance Minister Li Yong said the fund will use one-third of its money to buy an agency that controls China's state banks and another one-third to replenish capital of two major lenders, newspapers and the Xinhua News Agency said. The reports gave no exact figures, but such a plan still would leave about US$67 billion (¤45.5 billion) to invest abroad. Li's comments were the first declaration of the China Investment Corp.'s strategic plans after weeks of vague comments by agency officials about potential foreign investments. The fund's chairman, Lou Jiwei, was quoted by Xinhua last month as saying it would invest in economies that do not use China's currency, suggesting the Chinese mainland was off-limits. Reflecting official hopes to avoid a political backlash, Xinhua cited Li as saying that when it does invest abroad, the agency will not buy into oil, airline or telecommunications companies.
