About $1.2 billion, or 14.1 percent of the total outbound direct investment, was channeled into company mergers, mostly in the manufacturing sector, in the first quarter, Yao said.

China's contracted projects overseas reported $16.98 billion in business revenue in the first quarter, up 2.9 percent year-on-year and new contract value stood at $30.95 billion in the first quarter, up 16.7 percent year-on-year.

Contracted business projects declined in the Middle East and northern Africa due to unrest there, Yao said.

China sent about 93,000 laborers overseas in the first quarter, about 10,000 more than the same period last year.

About 769,000 Chinese laborers were stationed overseas during the period, nearly 90,000 less than the same period last year, Yao said, adding that the number of Chinese laborers in Africa dropped by about 24,000 year on year to 173,000 at the end of March.

US trade barriers impairs bilateral trade

Yao said the United States had launched frequent trade remedies against Chinese products and these measures had impaired bilateral trade growth.

The United States took China's trade surplus as a reason to put up trade barriers, but China had reiterated many times that Sino-US trade is not only about goods trade, but also service trade, Yao said.

China currently had a trade deficit of $10 billion in service trade with the United States, Yao said.

During the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010), China's service trade topped $362.42 billion, $170.25 billion in exports and $192.17 billion in imports, with an annual growth of 18.2 percent.

The United States has been imposing barriers on high-tech exports to China, with the US exporting more advanced high-tech products to India than to China, Yao said.

China's exports suffered 66 anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard measure probes last year, involving $7.14 billion, according to the MOC in a report on the trade and investment environment for several of China's major trade partners.