Is the Chinese economy closed to foreigners?

Nicholas Lardy, writing in a new book from the Institute for International Economics, The United States and the World Economy, makes the case that China has a relatively open economy:

"...by all important standards...China is a relatively open economy..." The standards include: "...openness to foreign investment, the large size and rapid expansion of the volume of imports, the high and rising ratio of imports to GDP, the rapid growth of domestic market sales of foreign affiliates, and the sharply declining and relatively low degree of tariff protection..."

1. China is relatively open to direct investment by foreign firms (FDI), "particularly in manufacturing." China has the third largest stock of foreign direct investment, after the U.S. and the U.K. In 2003, the flow of foreign direct invesment into China was greater than that to the U.S. "Over half of this investment has gone into manufacturing, where China places few restrictions on foreign ownership. By 2003, foreign firms accounted for over one-quarter of China's output of manufactured goods, a share that is well ahead of that of the United States and about the same as that of the European Union."
2. China's imports have grown enormously, and are large compared to its economy. "Imports of goods expanded from $53.4 billion in 1990 to $295 billion in 2002..." China's imports grew by 40% in 2003. The ratio of Chinese imports to its estimated GDP grew from 15% in 1990 to 30% in 2003. This 2003 ratio "was more than three times Japan's import ratio of 9 percent and twice the 14 percent import ratio of the United States."
3. As noted, foreign firms with facilities within China account for a fourth of the goods manufactured in China. "There are almost no restrictions on where these goods can be sold, and sales are about evenly divided between exports and China's internal market..."
4. China's tariffs only provide a "modest degree of protection..." for a developing country. China's tariff rates have been declining over the last 20 years. Currently, under its agreements on joining the WTO, China has agreed to reduce its tariff rate ceiling (its "bound rate") to 10% (its average rate in 2003 was 11.5%).  This bound rate would be above applied rate for Indonesia (6.9%) but lower than the applied rates for Brazil, Argentina, and, especially, India.

From The United States and the World Economy edited by C. Fred Bergsten (pages 123, 129-130).