China Seeks $25 Billion in Investment by ’97

China hopes that its push for overseas capital will pull in at least $25 billion the next five years, with high-technology and service industries targeted for the fastest growth, an official said.

Flexible investment policies and wider market access should make China a more attractive choice for foreign investors, said Jiao Sufen, a top official of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade.

“A new rush of foreign investment in China is in the making,” the newspaper China Daily said.

Jiao’s target of $25 billion seems conservative in light of the country’s accelerating economic boom.

China amassed $7.8 billion in contracted foreign investment during the first four months of 1992--against $11 billion for all of 1991, the newspaper said. The 1991 figure was a 68% increase over 1990, it said.

Officials attribute the fast growth of foreign investment this year to a campaign by senior leader Deng Xiaoping to expand market-oriented reforms.

Jiao said Beijing was working out regulations that would extend preferential investment policies to high-tech enterprises throughout the country.

“Foreign investment in high-tech sectors will enjoy uniform favorable policies, irrespective of their locations,” she was quoted as saying.

In the past, China’s preferential investment policies--which include tax breaks and other incentives--have been limited to a handful of open cities and “special economic zones” such as Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong.

Jiao promised that China will continue to widen local market access for foreign-invested high-tech companies as well as for service industries.

“Foreign investment in the service sectors, such as finance, commerce, transport and consultance, is expected to grow with less restriction,” she was quoted as saying.

Chinese commerce officials are meeting this week in the southern city of Canton for a seminar on attracting foreign investment in the service sector, the China Daily said.

Overseas fast-food restaurants and pricey clothing stores have already opened outlets in China, while Yaohan International of Japan has entered into a cooperative venture with Shanghai’s largest department store to open the city’s first Western-style shopping mall.