Amid China's fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic, a number of foreign investment projects are signed through video conferencing to avoid face-on crowding.

The signing ceremony of 66 foreign investment projects in east China's Shandong Province was held simultaneously in 16 cities through a video conference Tuesday, with an estimated total investment reaching 14.39 billion U.S. dollars.

The projects, involving manufacturing, high-end chemical industry, new energy and new materials and other industries, are mainly invested by 13 countries and regions including the Republic of Korea (ROK), Singapore, Japan, Germany, the United States and France.

Among them, 15 projects are from Japan and the ROK, with an estimated total investment of 2.82 billion dollars.

In the eastern Chinese city of Hefei, eight projects, some of which involving foreign capital, were signed through video calls Tuesday, covering areas including new energy vehicles, integrated circuits and medical and health care, totaling 102 billion yuan (about 14.53 billion dollars).

"We've signed a framework agreement with Hefei this time to set up our headquarters here in the city and Hefei will be taken as the center for our future business plan," said Li Bin, chairman of NIO Inc., a leading Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer.