Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland expanded 6.9 percent year-on-year to 604 billion yuan in the January-August period, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday. 

In U.S. dollar terms, FDI inflow grew 3.2 percent year-on-year to 89.26 billion dollars during the period, the ministry said. 

FDI in August alone reached 70.89 billion yuan, up 3.6 percent year-on-year.

During the past eight months, a total of 27,704 new foreign-funded enterprises were established.

Foreign investment in high-tech industries surged 39.3 percent year-on-year to 174.8 billion yuan, accounting for 28.9 percent of the total FDI, among which the high-tech service sector received 108.28 billion yuan, up 58.4 percent.  

During the period, China's pilot free trade zones saw FDI inflow up 23.3 percent year-on-year to 86.6 billion yuan, accounting for 14.3 percent of the total FDI.  

Foreign investment from South Korea continued to expand, surging 45.3 percent year-on-year in the first eight months, while FDI from the countries along the Belt and Road maintained steady growth of 6.3 percent.