Duncan can be forgiven for forgetting the exact number of government programs HASSELL has undertaken over the past eight years. As its large-scale urban planning projects sprawled across the country, Duncan estimates the figure is "up to hundreds".

In late 2008, China launched a 4-trillion-yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package that generated a large volume of procurement projects.

Commerce Minister Chen Deming said 2009 was a year when 55 percent of the 12,439 tenders for procurement of electromechanical products went to foreign enterprises. "China has followed strict tender rules to ensure a level playing field for both Chinese and foreign companies," Chen said.

Foreign enterprises' complaints are mainly focused on issues of intellectual property rights and market access, including government procurement and indigenous innovation. Initially, in order to be considered "indigenous innovation", a product must have had a trademark that was owned by a Chinese company with full ownership of the product's intellectual property (IP) in China.

But in April 2010, the country modified the rules so that "a product would be eligible for indigenous innovation accreditation as long as the applying party has exclusive rights to the product's trademark in China and is licensed to use the IP in China", said Wang Zhile, director of the research center under the Ministry of Commerce.

For instance, the Joint Venture Changchun Bombardier Railway Vehicles Co Ltd (CBRC) was awarded by Shanghai Shentong Metro Group Co a contract to supply 306 MOVIA metros for Shanghai's Line 9 and Line 7, said Marie-Lucie Spoke, director of Canada China Business Council's Shanghai office.

Another testimony to foreign firms' engagement in China's public procurement projects is the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, where the diesel locomotives used on the Golmud-Lhasa section were made by General Electric, and Bombardier Sifang Transportation (BSP) made carriages on some trains.

When asked the secret of winning contracts from the government in China, Zhang Jianwei, president of Bombardier China, said Bombardier's success lies in the excellence of its technology, quality and service, not in maintaining government relations.

"With our sales, we do not use agents or middlemen. We do not even have a government relations position in our China organization," Zhang said.

Government offers in China also takes the form of co-sponsoring pilot programs.

Criticism of China for allegedly favoring local industry at the expense of foreign companies has gone too far, according to Sandy Cutler, chief executive of Eaton, the US industrial conglomerate.

"There might be some political pressures inside China to favor local companies when awarding government contracts, but this is not the same as saying that the climate is acting to discourage companies based outside China," Cutler told the Financial Times.

Tong Zhiguang, former vice-minister of commerce, told China Daily in an earlier interview that "what makes the foreign companies really uncomfortable and unhappy is the growing competitiveness of Chinese enterprises".

Duncan echoed Tong's remarks. He believes the Chinese market has created an equal footing for success, and the only difference is perhaps the increased competition.

"I would say the business environment here is even more open than in some other places. Being here, working here, the very existence here in China is important. In this intense market, we have to work hard and be wholly focused on our designs," said Duncan.