China Woos European InvestorsChinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji wooed potential European investors on Tuesday with pledges to honour World Trade Organisation (WTO) principles and further reform the country's state-owned enterprises.Zhu told business leaders at a conference in Brussel there should be "no doubt" China would observe WTO rules. He said a series of measures had been adopted to ensure they would be faithfully implemented. "No matter when China (becomes a full WTO member), it will continue to press ahead with reform and continue to cooperate with others," he said through an interpreter. In May the EU struck a bilateral deal with Beijing that removed the last major obstacle to China's 14-year quest to join the WTO. Zhu promised continued reform of state-owned enterprises, saying China's aim was to restructure them with a view to future stock market listings. He said China was ready to facilitate investment efforts by improving legislation such as to protect property rights. Ending a six-nation European tour to promote bilateral trade on the 25th anniversary of formal ties, Zhu said development of information technology would be at the centre of China's next five-year-plan. He repeated an invitation to the business community to visit China, invest in its economy and cooperate with their Chinese counterparts. Zhu drew attention to a coordination agency set up to deal with complaints from foreign investors. "To my knowledge this would represent a very effective monitoring mechanism," he said. |
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