He made the remarks when he met the Minister of Knowledge Economy of the Republic of Korea (ROK), Lee Youn Ho.
Chen said that media reports were incorrect when they equated China's latest circular to boost domestic demand and step up supervision on construction projects with protectionism.
Chen said in China's government procurement, the term "domestic products" also include products produced by legally established foreign-funded companies in China.
"China applied to join the World Trade Organization's agreement on government procurement a couple of years ago, which allowed member countries to bid on each other's government tenders." Chen said. "We hope China might join the agreement soon so as to further open up the government procurement market," he said.
"China would like to maintain stable development in economic and trade cooperation with the ROK," Chen said.
Lee said that China's trade policies were fair and transparent, and his country would like to work with China to oppose trade protectionism.