The list was announced by Zhang Xiaoqiang, an official from the State Development Planning Commission, at a press conference of the ongoing Second APEC Investment Mart, which was inaugurated in Yantai City, east China's Shandong Province, Saturday.

These projects fall into infrastructure or hi-tech fields, with one third of them to be built in the country's underdeveloped western areas, Zhang said, noting that all these projects will enjoy preferential government policies including tax reduction or exemption.

According to China's development plant for the 2001-2005 period, the country will take FDI as the key means to use foreign funds. The country will further improve policies and environment for foreign investment, expand the scale of using foreign investment, and improve the quality of using foreign funds, the official said.

He said that China will continue encouraging foreign investment in farming, hi-tech and export-oriented industries, infrastructure and basic industries; encouraging foreign investors, transnational firms in particular, to participate in the transformation of state companies; and pushing forward the opening-up of service sectors like banking, insurance, commerce, foreign and tourism.

China will also continue to explore new ways of using foreign funds and create better environment for overseas investment, especially in the country's underdeveloped western areas, he noted.

According to the official, over the past two decades, China has introduced more than US$350 billion of foreign funds, with over 80 percent from APEC members.

(Xinhua 06/11/2001)