Despite high-profile trade cases, Chinese FDI into the United States is expected to continue apace

Chinese companies are expected to employ between 200,000 and 400,000 Americans by 2020, as cumulative Chinese investment in the US tripled in the past five years, a new study has shown.

New York-based Rhodium Group Llc found that total foreign direct investment from Beijing rocketed from $280 million in 2004 to over $22 billion in 2012, with the figure increasing threefold since 2008.

Last year alone, saw $6.5 billion worth of new investment, a level expected to be at least repeated again this year.

China has remained one of the few sources of investment into the US that is growing, contributing greatly to the country's economic growth, said Rhodium.

Brenda Foster, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, told the 2013 "Chinese FDI into the US Conference" on Friday that US state governments, through their economic development arms and led by local governors, are clearly vying for Chinese capital with a view toward creating more local jobs,

"I can tell you from my personal experience, that US states and cities are very interested in Chinese FDI to support their local economies," she told delegates, revealing the Chamber had hosted governors from over a dozen American states last year, as they visited China looking for investment.

Shao Ning, chief executive of the Center of American States, which represents eight US states in China, predicts that direct investment is likely to play an even more prominent role than trade in promoting bilateral relations between the two sides in future.

"Chinese companies gain enormously by investing in the huge US market, raising their technology levels and their brand awareness. Such investment reaches local American communities and helps forge a profound, positive impression of Chinese enterprises in the country," said Shao.