Beyond the FDI decline: How China's opportunity set is changing

China's foreign direct investment inflow fell in the first half, but the structure is shifting. High-tech FDI rose 33.2 percent, while R&D and design services jumped 82 percent. Executives from Merck, Aumovio, Henkel and Lego point to a changing opportunity set in China: less about low costs, more about innovation, supply chains and consumers.

Zhong Nan, Huang Qi and Sun Manqi contributed to this story.