We've said it several times before. Shanghai is becoming a magnet for foreign investment and heading for a second revival as the glamour trading city of the world.

Other Asian nations have recognized the competitive strengths of China as a whole. Pragmatic nations are learning to turn these strategic threats into opportunities, working with China rather than competing directly.

For really, there is very little alternative...

More facts and figures from a South Korean perspective on Lessons for South Korea in attracting foreign investment in the first of a three part series from the Korean Herald.

Extract: "...While the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States last year proved detrimental to many economies, China was one of the few to benefit from the crisis.

"American companies became concerned about their properties and began investing more vigorously in China, which they consider to be very safe," one official at the Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board (FID Shanghai) said.

The country's foreign direct investment has been increasing relatively fast, to the point that many are describing the market as a "black hole that's sucking up all foreign investment." China drew $2.07 billion of FDI in the first half of last year, but that figure accelerated significantly in the second half, particularly the last quarter.

At the heart of this cash inflow is Shanghai, a city of 16 million running 6,340 square kilometers in size. The city has drawn $54 billion worth of FDI thus far, mostly procured after 1999 with an opening of its markets, and is currently home to about 24,000 (279 of the world's top 500 companies) multinational firms from 96 countries and regions around the world.

FDI in Shanghai in the first quarter of this year alone is estimated to have grown 20 percent, with the biggest investors being Japan, the United States and Hong Kong..."