China will introduce more than 20 supporting regulations on foreign mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of domestic firms before August next year, a senior Chinese legislator said on Saturday.

The regulations will come out in a series before the Antitrust Law goes into effect on August 1, 2008, Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, told a forum in Beijing.

The regulations will help ensure that foreign M&A deals promote China's economic growth without threatening its economic security, Cheng stated.

Under the Antitrust Law, China would scrutinize foreign M&A proposals if they posed a potential threat to national security, he noted.

To evaluate foreign M&A deals, the first factor should be whether the domestic firms were fairly priced. The second was whether the deal would lead to company asset growth, Cheng added.

(Xinhua News Agency November 25, 2007)