Shi Guangsheng, minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation, said total imports would be worth US$1,500-2,000 billion over the next five years.

However, the official said the process was to be expected with neighboring countries benefiting first from new opportunities in China.

Chinese enterprises would regard nations on its borders as ideal investment destinations.

The current list of China's top 10 trading partners includes Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Russia.

Last year witnessed the launch of the China-Japan economic and trade partner consultation mechanism, the first Hyundai Sonata car rolling off the production line at a Beijing factory jointly funded by China and the ROK, and the start of the China-ASEAN free trade area creation process.

China - together with Russia, Kazakhstan and other Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) members - signed important documents, including the SCO Charter.

Economic and trade ministers of the six SCO member countries gathered in Shanghai to underscore co-operation in the fields of energy and transport.

Deputy Secretary-General Carlos Fortin of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva said China was increasingly providing impetus to other economies within the Asian region.

Chinese multinational giants and private companies had become important funding sources for its neighbors, he said.

China, which sees the first two decades of the 21st century as a period of important strategic opportunities, is focusing on building an overall well-off society.

The primary goal of China's good-neighborly diplomacy is establishing long-term stable friendly relations with neighboring countries.

China will continue to cement friendly ties with these countries, persist in building a good-neighborly relationship and partnership with them, and enhance exchanges and cooperation with them to new levels.

China's foreign policy towards neighboring countries showed its objectives of sharing peace, seeking common prosperity and creating an environment of peace and development with them, said Director Fu Ying of the Department of Asian Affairs at the Foreign Ministry.

(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2003)