The Foreign Commercial service of the Embassy of the United States of America in China works is helping the American firms to access Chinese medium-sized cities, US commercial counselor to China William A. Brekke told Xinhua.

"About 50 percent of the American companies in China are currently based in Shanghai and Beijing. What we do next is to help the American firms to enter the Chinese medium-sized cities," he said.

He made the remarks when attending the 6th China Western Region International Economic Cooperation Fair in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi province. The Embassy's Foreign Commercial service has helped bring government representatives from five U.S. states, including Kentucky, Illinois, North Carolina, Maryland and Idaho to the event.

According to Brekke, the American big firms are mostly based in medium-sized cities in the United States, and the governments of the Chinese medium-sized cities are more open with more flexible policies and more efficiency.

"The U.S. Department of Commerce has 110 offices in all of the United States. With this network, the Foreign Commercial service in China receives applications every day from U.S. companies trying to find cooperation opportunities in China," Brekke said.

"The U.S. Department of Commerce and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) have set up an International Partner Network listing firstly 14 medium-sized cities, which represent 53 percent of the nation's total imports. With a growing middle class, they offer big markets," he said.

The 14 cities are Dalian, Qingdao, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Harbin, Wuhan, Kunming, Xiamen, Nanjing, Xi'an, Ningbo and Zhuhai.

To date the Foreign Commercial service has received 46 applications from the U.S. firms seeking Chinese partners, and has set up 86 partnerships, including 19 success stories, said Cai Hongying, commercial assistant of the Foreign Commercial service.