The Chinese government has invited more than 1.25 million foreign experts to work in the country in the past five years, Minister of Personnel Yin Weimin said on Saturday.

The State Council had awarded 283 foreign experts the "Friendship Award" for their contribution to China's modernization, Yin said.

In the same period, around 750,000 experts from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan had been invited to work on the mainland, Yin told a national conference of personnel directors opened here on Saturday.

He said China respected talent and the government would make greater efforts to promote international cooperation in professional exchanges.

Early in China's reform and opening-up, the government invited just1,000 foreign experts each year, said Liu Yongzhi, spokesman of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, in September.

In recent years, China has invited over 200,000 each year to work in wide range of areas, including education, scientific research and service industry, said Liu.