Facing a sharp economic slowdown at home, Chinese companies are plowing money into U.S. assets at a record pace, making huge bids for American energy, aviation, entertainment and other businesses.

The increase in investment, already at least $8 billion this year, comes despite lingering American anxieties about potential breaches of national security and loss of technology to the powerful Asian competitor.

Thus far, economic relations with China have received little attention in the political campaigns of either major U.S. party. But analysts said the country's stepped-up investments, although welcomed by many budget-strapped state and local governments, could revive what has long been a contentious issue.

With U.S. real estate prices depressed and many companies in the West starved for cash, the Chinese see a prime opportunity to rummage through the bargain bins of rich countries to gain technological know-how and international reach.

They're also hedging against rising costs and uncertainties inside China. The world's second-largest economy is struggling with its slowest growth rate since the financial crisis in 2008.

"The Chinese growth model is changing fundamentally," said Thilo Hanemann, research director for the New York-based Rhodium Group, which tracks Chinese direct investment.

"Chinese companies need to escape the profit squeeze in low-end manufacturing and move up and down the value chain. Expanding investment in developed economies is an essential part of that," Hanemann said.

Natural resources remain a major target for the Chinese, who have scoured the globe for oil and minerals to fuel the nation's rapid industrial development. In April, China Petrochemical Corp, also known as Sinopec, closed a $2.5 billion deal to buy a one-third stake in Devon Energy Corp. of Oklahoma City.

Across other industries, Chinese corporations are buying into American companies for their prowess in branding, marketing and research capabilities.

Conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group paid $2.6 billion this year for the heavily indebted AMC Entertainment, one of the largest movie theater chains in North America. The deal gives Wanda a foothold in the U.S. entertainment industry and a chance to gain expertise in the day-to-day operations of movie theaters.

Just this month, Chinese auto-parts giant Wanxiang Group Corp. announced plans to provide a $465 million rescue package for struggling battery maker A123 Systems Inc., based in Waltham, Mass. The agreement gives Wanxiang, one of China's biggest private companies, a chance to buy a majority stake in a world-class battery developer for electric cars.

Chinese investments in U.S. companies hit a record of nearly $9 billion in 2007, according to separate data compiled by Dealogic, a research firm, and Derek Scissors, a Heritage Foundation analyst who follows Chinese investments. Their figures don't include Chinese purchases of American bonds, private real estate purchases and many smaller acquisitions.

Nor do the data capture direct investments such as that announced this year by Uniscite Inc. in China's Shanxi province. The maker of plastic films said it would build a new plant in Laurens County, S.C., to manufacture packaging products for the food industry.

"The Chinese government has given an implicit green light to reach overseas to secure assets that will help Chinese businesses thrive in the long term," said David Wolf, the Beijing-based head of the Wolf Group Asia consulting firm.

That's worrying some Washington officials, who fear that the United States is selling off valuable assets to the Chinese, ultimately at the expense of American jobs.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Florida, has warned that Wanxiang's investment in A123 could end up as a transfer of taxpayer-funded intellectual property to a "foreign adversary." The battery maker was the beneficiary of a $249 million clean-energy grant from the Department of Energy.

Meanwhile, both Democrats and Republicans have raised concerns about a massive $15.1 billion bid by the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC, to buy Nexen Inc., a Canadian oil company with operations in U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico.