China is currently in the process of revising its foreign investment catalogue to expand the number of sectors for which foreign investment is encouraged or permitted, a senior official said on Monday.

Liu Yajun, director-general of the Ministry of Commerce's Foreign Investment Department, told a conference in Shanghai that the revised catalogue would decrease the number of sectors that are restricted or off limits for foreign investors.

Liu is the latest Chinese official to reassure overseas investors in recent weeks amid rising complaints by foreign politicians and executives that China is not opening its market as promised when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

"We hope that foreign investors and foreign companies will give an objective assessment of China's investment environment. China's opening up cannot and will not change," Liu said.

"China welcomes foreign investment, but it needs to be mutually beneficial to be sustainable."

Beijing publishes a catalogue that details the sectors in which foreign investment is either encouraged, permitted, restricted or forbidden. It revises that list occasionally.

Vice President Xi Jinping said last week that China will treat foreign businesses fairly and is committed to becoming the world's most attractive destination for foreign investment.

European and U.S. businesses have expressed concern over what many see as a backtracking on reforms.

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in its annual position paper earlier this month that its member companies faced a host of barriers to entering the market that prevented them from competing on a level playing field with their local rivals.