China may cancel regional and business restrictions on foreign insurance firms within five years, according to a government plan, part of which was disclosed on October 27.

Yuan Li, an official with the Policy and Research Department of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), made these remarks at an international forum on China's insurance industry, which opened in Beijing on October 27.

Foreign insurance firms have been recently approved to expand their business in China into the cities of Dalian, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Tianjin, while previously they could only operate in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

In his speech on the five-year plan for China's insurance sector, Yuan said regional restrictions might be canceled in the next few years.

Foreign insurance firms may also have their business expanded from personal life insurance and property insurance for foreign- funded enterprises to other fields, the official said.

China will also amend the current Insurance Law and make a series of related laws and regulations concerning the management of foreign insurance companies to the healthy development of the insurance market, he added.

According to a projection by the CIRC, China's insurance market will expand by an annual rate of 13 percent in the next five years.

By the year 2004, the premium income for insurance firms is expected to reach 260 billion yuan, accounting for two percent of China's gross domestic product, the official said.