TOKYO. 9 J.ip.inrsc companies limbering up for Chinas entry to the World Track- Organisation (WTO) hope Premier Zhu Rongjis visit to Tokyo this week will help the scrapping of major handicaps to their operations, says AFP.

Japanese firms' investment in China fell sharply from 1997 to last year, partly because of the Asian financial crisis but also owing to disillusionment with the obstacles they found in the worlds most populous country.

Investment has picked up again this year with a raft of household names such as Sony Corp and Toyota Motor Corp stepping up their presence- in the communist nation, hopeful of the benefits that WTO membership will bring.

"And China is a huge market which alone makes the country an attractive Investment destination." said Yutaka Okagaki, an offic ial covering China in Japan's ministry of International trade and industry

Zhu arrives on Thursday for bls first visit to Japan as Chi-

nese |>remier

He will leave on October 17 alter summit talks with Prime Minister Yoslnro Mori and meetings with business leaders, including a visit to the world s biggest maker of industrial robots. Fanuc Ltd.

•Japanese firms in China in comparison have remained relatively low-tech, concentrating for the most part on televisions textiles and light bulbs.

"But alter WTO. China will have to open up its service industry. such as supermarkets and convenience stores, and intellectual properly." said Okagaki.

The same o|M*ning ol Industries will have to take* place for semiconductors. auto manufacturers and others such .is telecommunications." In-said

Japan's biggest automaker, a relative newcomer to China, is ho|>nig the Zhu visit will help c Icar some frustrating hurdles.

Toyota waited until May before announcing it would latinch full auto production in Ilina, through a 100-tnillion-dollar investment with joint

venture |>.iiMi»-r i.uniin aiiio-moblh Xiah o Ltd to make small cars.

Toyota was invited in bv the Chinese government in tin early 1990s. but was bus\ entrenching its position in North America and Europe. said spokesman Nobura Eto.

"The smid reason whv we waited is that we didn't and still clou t have a sales network in China." he said

"In the United States Europe and elsewhere, we first established a sales network and only then established plant capacity So to establish a presence in China has been very risky for us.” Eto said.

“After entering WTO. the Chinese central government may allow us to establish sales ventures, but we don’t know

For Sony, the major headache is that as an electronics maker It Is banned from Importing finished articles to China.

No Sony goods can be sold In China unless they're macle in China," said Sony (China) Ltd spokesman Takchlto Soeda.