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Level-playing field for all in stimulus projects, says ministry

By Lu Haoting (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-27 08:16

China will continue to push forward its opening-up policy as always and create a fair competition environment for foreign and domestic products, government officials said on Friday.

Some foreign media misinterpreted the notice issued recently by the government as "buy-Chinese" trade protectionism, and that was completely a misunderstanding," Ministry of Commerce Spokesman Yao Jian and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Spokesman Li Pumin said in a joint statement.

The NDRC, China's top economic planner, issued a notice in early June along with other ministries saying that government-invested projects should use domestic products and services unless they are not available in the country.

The notice created a stir among global businesses that are pinning high hopes on participating in China's 4-trillion-yuan economic stimulus package at a time of flagging sales due to the global economic downturn.

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The products and services covered by the notice only refer to those procured by governments at all levels using fiscal revenues, and "the domestic products", mentioned by the notice, also include those manufactured by foreign companies which are legally incorporated in China, according to the joint statement.

"The notice aims at improving the supervision of tenders. It does not specifically target the government's stimulus package. Nor is it protectionism against foreign enterprises or products," the statement said.

Since China is not yet a party to the Agreement on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the country's Government Procurement Law and the notice issued earlier are not against international practices, the statement said.

"China has sent an application to join the agreement. We hope major WTO members would approve our membership soon so that we could open government procurement markets to each other," the statement said.