Commerce Ministry comments on economy and global financial crisis

11 February, 2009 1. Wide interior of bank 2. Mid of man counting money 3. Close of money being counted 4. Money piled up 16 February, 2009 5. Wide of news conference at Chinese Ministry of Commerce 6. Cutaway of cameras 7. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yao Jian, Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson: "We are against all forms of protectionism, we advocate solving issues through dialogue and negotiations. We believe that protectionism will only bring more difficulties to the already harsh situation due to the global financial crisis." 11 February, 2009 8. Mid of man counting money in bank 9. Close of money being counted 16 February, 2009 10. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yao Jian, Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson: "This (the slow down in foreign investment) is the situation for January, but we cannot foresee that this is will be the tendency in the future. We believe that with the implementation of China's macro-economic policies, especially policies to boost domestic consumption, China's economy will bring overseas companies many market options and opportunities for development opportunities." 11. Wide of end of news conference STORYLINE: China warned on Monday that trade protectionism would worsen the global slump and appealed to other governments to discard "buy local" conditions in stimulus plans after criticising such US restrictions as "poison." "We believe that protectionism will only bring more difficulties to the already harsh situation," Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian told reporters. In a weekend editorial, the official Xinhua News Agency criticised measures in Washington's 789 (b) billion US dollars stimulus package that favour American goods as "poison to the solution" of the global economic slump. Meanwhile China's nonfinancial foreign investment fell in January for a fourth month as global consumer demand and business activity cooled, according to data released on Monday. Foreign investment in January totalled 75.4 (b) billion US dollars, down 32.7 percent from the same time last year, Yao told reporters. That did not include financial investment, which usually is reported later in the year. Analysts say China's January economic data are likely to be distorted because the Lunar New Year holiday fell during that month, meaning it had fewer working days. Last year, the holiday was in February. But even with the holiday factored in, analysts say trade and other indicators are likely to show a sharp decline. Foreign investment in China began to weaken in October as global demand for its exports weakened. Still, despite that slowdown, Beijing says total foreign investment in China last year jumped 23.6 percent to 92.4 (b) billion US dollars. The number of new foreign-financed companies set up in January fell 48.7 percent from the year-earlier period to 1,496, Yao said. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/cb5e08d4466a946f96fb660a297c8983 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork