General Electric Corporation will invest more than 2 billion US dollars in China through 2012. It wants to expand research and development here, as well as customer support.

GE, the largest US conglomerate, will spend 500 million US dollars on R&D and more than 1.5 billion US dollars on technology and financial services joint ventures in China.

Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE Corporation said "Excited about China's 12th five year plan, so we're investing 2 billion US dollars in....at China. That's consistent with GE's globalization strategy...And we very much believe the win-win nature of the globalization."

GE has already signed four energy and rail joint venture agreements with Chinese state-owned firms.

Two of the agreements are with units of China State's Grid, the country's largest power grid operator. One is to manufacturer and market grid monitoring and diagnostic products. And the other is to buy a controlling stake in a Shanghai-based green power distribution equipment maker.

GE is also trying to supply China's railway and urban transit signaling system.

GE has been stepping up its investment in emerging markets like India and China.