China's largest carmaker will consider investing in GM if "conditions are favorable," Chairman Hu Maoyuan said in Shanghai. The company has not yet made a decision whether to make the investment and is waiting for details of the share sale, he said.

The automakers, which have made cars together in China for more than a decade, said in December they also would sell low- cost vehicles in India. GM filed for an initial public offering in August as the U.S. government seeks to pare the 61 percent stake it gained in the company during GM's bankruptcy and $50 billion taxpayer bailout last year.

"GM is our important strategic partner," Hu said. "We are not clear about the details of its IPO. We will make the right decision once we know details."

The joint venture partners are developing a new engine and transmission system together, have launched the new Baojun brand in the Chinese market, and have formed an alliance to sell low-cost cars in India.

"Politics and government relationship aside, it makes perfect sense," said Bill Russo, Beijing-based senior adviser at Booz & Co. "Why can't there be a China-America alliance? Fear of China is the only reason."

GM's initial public offering will be open to overseas investors, the U.S. Treasury said in a statement on its website. Retail and institutional investors will be offered shares, and the Treasury "will not involve itself in decisions regarding allocation of shares to specific buyers," the department said.

General Motors' plans to issue stock has gotten an enthusiastic endorsement from the United Auto Workers, which made major concessions on wages and benefits as part of GM's bailout package.

GM is "in great shape" to hold an offering, United Auto Workers President Bob King said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "It will actually help them sell more product when they've done the IPO," King said. "I think the American public will see that they're a strong and healthy company."

The Detroit-based automaker, whose partners in China also include Liuzhou Wuling Motors Co. and China FAW Group Corp., sold 1.2 million vehicles in the nation during the six months ended June 30, according to a company filing related to the IPO.

Combined income from the joint ventures with SAIC and Wuling rose to $734 million in the first six months of the year from $298 million a year earlier.

"It's not a bad idea for GM and SAIC to further their ties if it means getting GM better ingrained in the Chinese market," Aaron Bragman, an analyst with IHS Automotive in Northville, Michigan, said in a telephone interview. "That's where the money is going to be made for the industry."

China's wholesale deliveries of passenger cars increased nearly 19 percent to 1.0 million units in August, compared with 14 percent growth in July, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Sales in markets such as China and India have offset weak demand in the U.S. and Europe. China, which overtook the U.S. as the world's largest auto market last year, may sell 16 million vehicles this year, the association said last month, boosting its forecast from a previous estimate of 15 million.

GM, whose sales in China rose 19 percent from a year earlier to 181,625 vehicles last month, is counting on China, India and other emerging markets to prepare for what may be the second-largest initial public offering in U.S. history.

In December, GM and SAIC signed an agreement to invest $650 million to form a 50:50 joint venture to sell cars in India. The American automaker plans to spend $250 million to introduce five SAIC models in Asia's second most populous nation, Karl Slym, president of GM's Indian unit said in July.