SHIJIAZHUANG - A leading Japanese chemical maker will donate 280,000 yuan ($44,444) to have trees planted near Beijing over the next five years to help improve the ecological environment, Chinese authorities said Monday.

The Osaka-based Sekisui Chemical Co. Ltd. will finance the planting of 10,000 Chinese pines in a barren mountain in a village in the Manchu autonomous county of Fengning in Chengde, North China's Hebei province, according to an agreement signed between the company and Fengning's forest bureau.

It is the sixth tree-planting project between Fengning and Japanese businesses, a bureau spokesman said.

Previously, Fengning has cooperated with Toyota, Honda and other companies in forestation projects in the county, he said.

A total of 39.6 million yuan has been injected into the projects, which cover a forest area of 3,533 hectares, he added.

Fengning lies to the northeast of the national capital and borders Beijing's Huairou district. Fengning is the major water source of Beijing and Tianjin.