BEIJING -- China's State Council, or the cabinet, Wednesday approved the first guideline policy document for Chinese enterprises investing overseas.

The document, titled "Opinions on encouraging and regulating overseas investments by Chinese enterprises", was adopted at a meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.

The document says China's overseas investments must follow the principles of mutual respect, mutual benefit, complementarity and win-win cooperation.

It stresses the need for proper guidance and coordination of firms to prevent competition among Chinese businesses in order to safeguard national interests.

The document calls for improved supervision of the management of state-owned assets overseas and the establishment of proper risk assessment and cost management systems for overseas ventures.

When investing overseas, the document says, Chinese enterprises must observe local customs and laws, be fair and transparent in dealing with engineering contracts, protect the interests of local employees and the environment, and support local charities.

Chinese enterprises must strive to improve the quality of their products and services to boost their international competitive edge, the document says.

In response to growing terrorist threats, the document calls for more efforts to protect the safety of employees and the properties of overseas Chinese businesses.

It also urged overseas businesses to safeguard their image as well as the image of the country, and spread China's policy of peaceful development.

China is a rising international investor. Its overseas investments surged 123 percent in 2005 to reach 57.2 billion U.S. dollars at year end. The figure is expected to rise by a further 60 billion dollars by 2010.