China's Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan said in Beijing Thursday that the Chinese government is committed to building a fair and favorable environment for foreign investors.

"The Chinese government encourages and supports Chinese enterprises to have business and investment cooperation with foreign partners," Zeng told Samuel J. Palmisano, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the U.S. giant IBM.

Zeng pledged that the Chinese government will continue to enhance intellectual property rights protection and offer favorable investment policies.

The vice premier extended his congratulations to Palmisano on the smooth cooperation between IBM and China's computer giant Lenovo.

Lenovo signed an acquisition agreement with IBM in December 2004. Lenovo paid 1.25 billion U.S. dollars for IBM's PC manufacturing business. The deal included 650 million U.S. dollars in cash and Lenovo's shares valued at 600 million U.S. dollars.

Zeng said the smooth operation of the acquisition is a result of friendly cooperation. "I hope the two companies will enhance cooperation in the future to achieve win-win results."

Zeng said the Chinese government pays high attention to the development of the information industry and he hopes IBM will further cooperate with China's information industry in the areas of semi-conductors, software and information services, especially in research and development and technology innovation.

Source: Xinhua