Despite omicron risks, Invesco's top global strategist lists emerging markets — including China — as top 2022 investment picks
Invesco's Kristina Hooper sees significant opportunities in regions shunned by a majority of investors.

Despite the new omicron wave, she lists emerging markets — including China — as 2022's top places to put money to work.

"We always knew it would take longer for emerging markets to get populations vaccinated. But clearly there is a ramp up occurring, and it's going to continue well into 2022," the firm's chief global market strategist told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Monday. "So, that means 2022 should be for emerging markets what 2021 was for developed markets in terms of participating in a more robust reopening of their economies."

So far this year, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF , which tracks large and mid-sized publicly traded companies in developing regions, is dramatically underperforming the S&P 500 . The ETF is off 6% so far this year while the S&P 500 is up 24%.

Hooper acknowledges investing abroad in places such as China takes courage.

"There's this conventional wisdom that China is uninvestable. It is not uninvestable," said Hooper, who's particularly bullish on the country's tech industry.

China's lawmakers are in the midst of a major regulation crackdown as part of its "common prosperity" push. Beijing regulators are seeking more control over industries including tech, gaming, e-commerce and education.