Vice-Premier Wu Yi met Tuesday with visiting Chairman Thomas Pritzker of the United States-based Hyatt International Corporation.

Wu said China welcomed all multinationals including Hyatt to invest in China as the country becomes more integrated with the world economy.

She also introduced, at Pritzker's request, China's latest progress in combating piracy and other kinds of infringement on intellectual property rights (IPR).

The Chinese government has put great importance on IPR protection to attract overseas investment and advance technologies for the sake of improving the development of China's economy.

Pritzker expressed his interest in the growing Chinese market.In the coming ten years, China will be Hyatt's second largest market, following the United States, he said.

As the company's hotel business keeps growing in China, Pritzker said Hyatt was thinking about branching out into the development and sales of pharmaceuticals.