China Investment Corporation unveils investment plan

    BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's Vice Minister of Finance Li Yong disclosed plans for the China Investment Corporation (CIC) Wednesday, dispelling rumors that China would try to buy out European and American companies in large numbers.

    Li said one third of CIC's capital would be used to purchase Central Huijin, which now controls China's major state-owned commercial banks; another third to replenish the capital of the Agricultural Bank of China and China Development Bank; and the remaining third to invest in global financial markets.

    Li told the International Finance Forum in Beijing Wednesday that CIC's investment in world financial markets would be realized gradually and in a cautious way.

    The CIC would not buy into overseas airlines, telecommunications or oil companies.

    "The CIC will want to make things more transparent, and learn best practices from other sovereign wealth funds," said Li.

    The CIC was launched in September to mitigate risks in China's huge foreign exchange reserve.

    It has 200 billion U.S. dollars in registered capital allocated from China's foreign exchange reserve. The Ministry of Finance issued 1.55 trillion yuan (208 billion U.S. dollars) worth of special treasury bonds to buy the forex reserve and inject the fund into the CIC.

    By the end of September, China's forex reserve exceeded 1.43 trillion U.S. dollars, the highest in the world.

 China issues new guide for foreign investment 

   BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday released a new guide for foreign investment to sort out industries that encourage foreign investment and those foreign companies are banned or restricted from entering the Chinese market.

    The new guide, promulgated against the backdrop of China's economic transformation from quantity to quality, will replace the 2004 version and take effect as of Dec. 1, said the nation's top economic planner.