The head of the American Chamber of Commerce in China Tuesday warned that companies that held back from the Chinese market because of the global economic crisis will lose valuable development opportunities.

And chairman John Watkins called on the Chinese government to provide more "transparent" information about its 4-trillion-yuan (US$585 billion) national stimulus package so that U.S. companies could compete fairly with their Chinese counterparts.

"We are quite clear that whoever retreats now will lose development opportunities in China," said Watkins, also chairman and CEO of Cummins (China) Investment Co. Ltd., in fluent Chinese.

"Most of our members are confident about the Chinese market in 2009," Watkins told Xinhua.

U.S. companies in China were less affected by the global economic crisis than those back in the United States. Many multinationals, including Cummins, expected to expand in China this year, he said.

"I hope our exports to China could reach US$1 trillion in 30 years and the investment of Chinese companies in the U.S. then could also reach that amount," he said.

U.S. companies were moving their focus from China's coastal areas to the vast central and western regions, he said.

AmCham-China had signed strategic cooperation agreements with 10 central and western provinces.

AmCham-China Monday launched the China Manufacturing Competitiveness Study 2008-2009, conducted with the global consulting firm Booz & Company. Of the 108 companies surveyed, fewer companies expressed an interest in relocating their manufacturing facilities out of China in the next five years (10 percent in 2008 and 17 percent in 2007).

The number of foreign invested manufacturing companies that expressed concern about China losing its competitive edge to lower-cost countries like India and Vietnam fell by more than half.

Almost half the respondents expressed an interest in expanding their production capacity in China over the next two years, the report said.

AmCham-China is a non-profit organization that represents U.S. companies and individuals doing business in China. It comprises 2,800 individuals from over 1,200 companies.

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2009)