Li Qiang made the remarks on Sunday during a meeting with Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics, on the eve of a trilateral summit between South Korea, China and Japan. The world's leading producer of semiconductors and mobile phones, which is one of the biggest foreign companies in China, has invested tens of billions of dollars in facilities to produce chips and electronics in the country. "Foreign companies are essential to China's development, and China's mega market will always be open to foreign companies," Li said during the meeting with the Samsung chief, according to China's official Xinhua news agency. "Beijing will adopt measures such as expanding market access to improve the business environment, so that foreign companies can have confidence in investing and developing in China," he added. "China welcomes South Korean companies, including Samsung, to continue to expand their investment and cooperation in China," he said. The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China recently said its members were facing difficulties in the country, including limited market access and regulatory barriers. During his meeting with the Samsung chairman, Li Qiang also "called on Chinese and South Korean companies to further tap their cooperation potential in new areas such as artificial intelligence," according to local media reports. Samsung is one of the few companies capable of producing advanced semiconductor chips, which are essential components in high-tech products including artificial intelligence but also have military applications. Chips are at the heart of a tech standoff between the United States and China. Washington has taken a series of measures to restrict China's access to cutting-edge semiconductor technology, including offering billions of dollars in incentives to companies like Samsung to move production to the US. Read Also: South Korea, China and Japan resume meeting to relaunch cooperation (in Portuguese)