GM to invest $3b in China

GM to invest $3b in China

BEIJING (AFP): U.S. auto giant General Motors Corp. (GM) said
yesterday it hoped to raise investments in China to US$3 billion
by 1999 from $2 billion targeted for next year.

GM spokesman Pat Hawkins said the U.S. company was committed
to investing around $2 billion in China by June 1998, including a
$1.5 billion manufacturing project in Shanghai.

Hawkins told AFP that GM was currently in negotiations with
China for several more car and components projects worth an
additional one billion dollars. She declined to give any details
on the planned ventures.

"If new projects in negotiations come to realization, it could
be an additional $1 billion by 1999," Hawkins said.

GM vice president Rudolph Schlais said the Shanghai project
and the additional ventures would make the U.S. automaker the
biggest single U.S. investor in China and one of country's top
three foreign investors.