China Mutual Fund Best for Third Quarter

China's fundamentals are compelling: A burgeoning middle class continues to increase its consumption as the country expands its infrastructure to meet the needs of its population. China is a good play for the long term, but the explosion in Chinese lending could make this country an especially profitable investment for the next few months.

My flagship newsletter Fidelity Independent Adviser recently named Fidelity China Region Fund(FHKCX Quote) as the "Best Mutual Fund for Third Quarter 2009," reflecting the relative strength I have seen in Chinese investments and my outlook for the latter part of this year.

One factor that makes FHKCX stand out from the pack is fund manager Wilson Wong. Before taking the helm at China Region, Wong ran Fidelity Advisor Korea and headed the Asia ex-Japan group for Fidelity International Small Cap since July 2005.

Morningstar(MORN Quote) analyst Christopher Davis notes, "Wong deserves credit for some deft maneuvers." Davis believes that Wong succeeded in a tough economy because he "de-emphasized consumer-discretionary and export-oriented industries, which were hurt most by the global economic slowdown, and turned to more-defensive (domestically driven) areas like telecom."

Davis' analysis rings particularly true when you delve even further into Wong's biography to learn that he graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and gained firsthand experience as a securities analyst in Hong Kong. During the global economic slowdown as Chinese funds saw assets slashed, Wilson turned inward rather than sticking to the export driven approach favored by other funds. Wilson's disciplined approach should also help FHKCX thrive on the upswing.