"We use an open bidding process... to ensure the implementation of projects," Jiang Yaoping, vice commerce minister, told reporters in response to a question about foreign investment into green industries.

"These measures have provided companies, including foreign-invested firms, with a chance to participate in a fair way," he said, adding the government maintained a policy of treating domestic and foreign firms equally.

Beijing has pledged to spend 738 billion dollars developing clean energy over the next decade as it seeks to meet a target of generating 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources -- mainly wind and water -- by 2020.

The nation's vast market and deep pockets are attracting a growing number of foreign companies which face severe challenges in their home markets due to the global financial crisis.

At the same time, Beijing has faced a growing chorus of accusations by foreign companies, business groups and governments that overseas enterprises are encountering an increasingly skewed playing field in the country.

A row has also erupted between China and the United States over the impact of Beijing's subsidies on its renewable energy sector, with claims foreign firms are excluded from receiving government help in the Asian nation.

The US Department of Commerce announced in September it was investigating whether China's support for its domestic renewable energy companies broke international trade rules.

But China's Ministry of Commerce has dismissed claims it is unfairly supporting its green-technology industry.

earlier related report
Canada accused of trying to kill US, EU clean fuel policies
Ottawa (AFP) Nov 22, 2010 - Environmentalists on Monday accused Canada of attempting to kill proposed US and EU clean energy policies in order to protect its oil exports.

Climate Action Network Canada executive director Graham Saul told a press conference government letters, memos, speeches, and lobbyist reports assembled by the group point to a "coordinated lobbying strategy to kill climate change policies in other countries."

"This systematic effort, is being run out of Foreign Affairs and some of the briefing materials feeding into key discussions was drafted by the oil industry rather than having more neutral versions prepared by civil servants," he said.

"In our opinion, this is a scandal. It's outrageous," he added.

In a report, the coalition of environmental groups cites three cases in 2007 in which Ottawa fiercely lobbied to "undermine" or "weaken" climate and clean energy policies of foreign governments.

They were the establishment of a low-carbon fuel standard in California; a US federal clean fuels policy directing government departments not to buy dirty fuels; and the European Union's Fuel Quality Directive on blending more biofuels into their gasoline and reducing emissions from the production of fossil fuels.

It was feared that exports from Canada's oil sands, whose exploitation generates more greenhouse gases than extracting crude oil, would be impacted by the new laws.

Susan Casey-Lefkowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council noted that Canada failed to sway California and the EU, and Washington's position is still undetermined.

But Saul said: "We have reason to believe that these three cases are only the tip of the iceberg."

He and other members of the Climate Action Network Canada called on Harper "to stop trying to kill clean energy policies in other countries."

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