CHINA will widen its market to foreign investors, Commerce Minister Chen Deming wrote in an article in today's Financial Times.

The remarks were another reassurance for foreign investors after Premier Wen Jiabao promised a stable foreign investment climate in China less than 10 days ago.

"Concerns have recently been floated...that China is now less welcoming of foreign investment," Chen said in the article. "In fact, China will open wider in the future."

Chen said China has kept its market open throughout the financial crisis, and companies have followed strict tender rules to ensure a level playing field for all businesses, either Chinese or foreign, in the bid for the spending of a 4 trillion yuan (US$586 billion) stimulus package.

Last year, of 12,439 tenders for procurement of electromechanical products, 55 percent went to foreign investment enterprises, Chen said.

He said China remained a top destination for investment by multinational companies. When global foreign direct investment dropped by nearly 40 percent in 2009, investment into China only fell by 2.6 percent.

To become more attractive, the country has strengthened the practice of equal treatment for foreign investment and strived to improve intellectual property protection with new laws and a "double-track" system of administration and criminal enforcement.