The SARS outbreak will not shake China's confidence or its economic
progress and the country is still the world's most attractive
investment environment, said Vice-Premier Wu Yi in Beijing
Thursday.
Meeting with Stuart Levernick, vice-president of Caterpillar
Investment Co. Ltd., Wu said that after the outbreak of severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a few foreign commerce
delegations had postponed or canceled visits to China, and some
foreign workers had been called home, which was understandable.
Meanwhile, most foreign business people had stayed in China and
joined in their Chinese colleagues in fighting against the epidemic
and continuing normal production and management. Many foreign
businesses had made donations to China's anti-SARS work, Wu said,
expressing the Chinese government's gratitude.
Wu
said the Chinese government had done everything to eradicate the
disease as soon as possible and to protect the health and safety of
everyone, including foreign business people.
She said, now that the situation was more stable and normal life
was gradually resuming, the governments at all levels were taking
measures to encourage foreign investment, including making more use
of the Internet, solving problems for foreign businesses, and
allowing more time for foreign investors unable to fulfill their
duties on time because of SARS.
The Chinese government would eventually bring SARS under control,
safeguarding foreign investors' health and safety and maintaining
the country's economic growth, said Wu, adding that the unexpected
outbreak had prompted China to improve the transparency and
efficiency of its administration and foreign business people would
make right choices in view of these facts.
Levernick briefed the vice-premier on his company's operations in
China. He said Caterpillar, after years of good cooperation with
China, regarded the country as its home, and it was natural to come
back "home" at such a moment.
He
said the trip demonstrated Caterpillar's strong confidence in
investing in China, a rapidly growing market. Caterpillar would
further expand in China and participate in the remolding of the
country's state-owned enterprises, he added.
Caterpillar was the world's largest heavy equipment and engine
manufacturer, and also one of the first US companies to invest in
China. It participated in the construction on almost all of China's
major projects since 1985, including the Three Gorges Dam Project,
the Qinghai-Tibet Railroad, the transmission of natural gas from
west China to its east and the diversion of water from the south to
the north.
(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2003)