BEIJING - The decline of the US direct investment in China was for short term, said Charles Edouard Bouée, president and managing partner of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in China.

"I won't make a comment on a FDI number of four months because it is not for long term," Bouée told China Daily on the sidelines of a press conference in Beijing.

"FDI numbers is always very difficult to look at because sometimes money flows from one country to another country.

"If you look at the biggest investor in China. They are sometimes from some small islands such as Caribbean. You always have to be careful," he said.

US investment in China dropped sharply by 28 percent, the Ministry of Commerce said last week. From January to April, the investment from the US decreased to $1.03 billion and the number of US firms set up in China also fell by 3.85 percent to 475.

Economists said they believed the decline in US investment is temporary, and the Chinese economy, over the long term, will provide US companies with more investment opportunities.