CHINA will soon issue new regulations on attracting overseas investment, a deputy minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning agency, said yesterday.

Some details of the policy might be announced Wednesday at a press conference jointly held by the commission, the Information Office of the State Council and the Ministry of Commerce, said Zhang Xiaoqiang.

China still wanted foreign investment in high-tech and services sectors, but polluting and energy-thirsty projects were no longer welcome, he said at the annual Boao Forum for Asia in Boao, a coastal town in south China's island province of Hainan.

"The rules would stipulate that China will more actively and efficiently encourage good foreign investment," Zhang said.

"We welcome investment conducive to the transformation of the economic growth pattern," he added.

The forum opened yesterday with a focus on Asia's sustainable recovery from the economic downturn.

China had been working "actively and seriously" to tackle climate change and build capacity to respond to it, China's Vice President Xi Jinping told the opening ceremony.

Xi called on Asian nations to further open markets, oppose all forms of protectionism, and "uphold a fair, free and open global trade and investment system."