Xi pledges equal treatment for foreign and local firms

Vice-President Xi Jinping has promised better treatment for foreign investors following complaints that the mainland is slipping back into protectionism.

Kicking off the 2nd World Investment Forum yesterday, Xi said the mainland would treat domestic and foreign firms the same for government procurement contracts and would tighten protection of intellectual property rights.

His comments follow recent criticism of Beijing's economic policies by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, the biggest European trade organisation on the mainland.

The EU Chamber complained last week that the country was an 'excessively regulated' market, foreign firms were still treated unequally and rules and regulations remained unpredictable and opaque even after 30 years of reform.

Xi hit back at the criticism, citing a string of statistics to demonstrate the country's commitment to improving its investment landscape and creating a level playing field.

'China is committed to a transparent regulatory regime: we have revised the guidelines for foreign investment four times during the past 30 years of reform,' he told about 1,200 state leaders and investors at the biennial meeting commissioned by the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development.