Beijing submitted its revised offer last week to participate in the World Trade Organization's agreement on government procurement, or GPA, which regulates trade in public-sector purchases, the officials said.

"We are still analyzing it but we recognize that it includes significant improvements over its initial offer that was submitted at the end of 2007," when China first applied to join the pact, said deputy US trade representative Demetrios Marantis.

"It's better than it was in 2007 from a variety of respects, including coverage of central government entities," he said at a Washington forum.

China has regularly been criticized for not allowing foreign companies access to large government-backed projects.

Marantis said the new offer could be "a solid step toward ensuring China's huge government procurement market is open to US companies."

Washington and the European Union have been pushing China, which joined the WTO in 2001, to join the procurement agreement now limited to 41 of the WTO's 153 members, including the US, EU's 27 members and Japan.

The latest to join was Taiwan last year.

Agreement partners had evaluated China's application in December 2007 and wanted better terms than those offered by Beijing.

Last month, US lawmakers proposed a ban on the US government buying Chinese-made goods or services until Beijing joins the procurement agreement that demands that countries do not discriminate against foreign bidders in non-defense contracts.

The lawmakers, three Democrats and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, complained that US firms cannot compete in China's government procurement market, estimated at 500 billion dollars, while the US government buys Chinese tires, ammunition, office equipment, and other items.

"After we complete our analysis, including consulting with domestic stakeholders we will work with China and other GPA members to ensure China terms of accession are comprehensive and comparable to that of other GPA parties," Marantis said.

Government procurement typically comprises 10 to 15 percent of a country's gross domestic product, US officials said.

Marantis said China had also agreed to hold "intensive" high-level bilateral discussions, beginning next week, with all relevant government agencies over its controversial so-called indigenous innovation policies.

"This is progress, but indigenous innovation is a tremendous challenge. We have much more work to do to address it, both on winning Chinese support for non-discriminatory innovation policies overall and our short term concerns with pending measures," he said.

The United States and the EU have charged that the policies threatened global intellectual property protections, fair government procurement policies, market competition, and innovators' freedom to decide how and when they transfer technology.

earlier related report
Hong Kong property giant 'welcomes' police probe
Hong Kong (AFP) July 15, 2010 - One of the giants of Hong Kong's property market said Thursday it was cooperating with a police investigation into the collapsed sale of what was billed as the world's priciest flat.

Henderson Land Development said police had "visited" its headquarters on Wednesday to investigate the failed sale of luxury flats at its exclusive Conduit Road tower development in the city's Mid-Levels.

The scrapped deals included what was supposed to be the world's most expensive apartment, a 6,158-square-foot (554-square-metre) duplex that Henderson said in October had sold for 56.6 million US dollars.

Critics have accused Henderson of fabricating the sales to boost property prices, but it has defended them as above-board deals that simply fell apart.

"The company provided relevant documents and then assigned staff to assist with the investigation upon request," Henderson said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday. "Such investigation does not have any impact on the company's business operations.

"The company welcomes the investigation of the police and will fully cooperate in providing information. It is hoped that the issue will be clarified as soon as possible."

Henderson's share price was down Thursday with the stock closing 2.1 percent lower at 46.70 Hong Kong dollars (six US dollars).

"While the deal might not involve the best practice, we find it hard to believe (Henderson) would wilfully get involved in a criminal offence in such a high-profile manner," brokerage UOB KayHian said in a report.

Officers from Hong Kong's Commercial Crime Bureau swooped on Henderson's office in the city's financial district on Wednesday and also searched a law firm allegedly connected to the failed sales.

No arrests were made, police said.

Henderson -- controlled by billionaire tycoon Lee Shau-kee -- has been at the centre of a brewing controversy since it reported last month that the sale of as many as 20 out of 24 units at the Conduit Road site had been cancelled.

Critics demanded a probe, asking why the cancellations only came to light eight months after the sales were first announced, which helped hike prices for luxury flats and stoked concerns about a property bubble in the former British colony.

Questions have also been raised about the relatively small deposit that Henderson held back after the failed sales, and why all the buyers appear to have used the same law firm to process the transactions.

Henderson was criticised for selectively numbering the floors on the 46-storey building as a ploy to attract Chinese buyers.

The supposed 68th-floor duplex that snatched the world-record price was actually on the 43rd and 44th floors, according to reports. It was so numbered because "68" sounds like "continuing fortune" in Chinese and is considered lucky.

The Hong Kong government in November introduced a list of measures to boost transparency in property sales, in a bid to cool public anger over Henderson's selective-numbering tactics.

Under the new arrangement, developers must make details of transactions involving uncompleted first-hand residential properties public within five working days of signing preliminary agreements for sale and purchase.

Developers were previously only required to register the transaction within one month of the sale.

They must also reveal the price per square foot (or metre) of the "saleable area" of individual flats, instead of only the overall price of the flats, as was the case before.

The changes now require floor numbering to appear at the front of sales brochures instead of at the back.

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