Baird pushes for Chinese investment in NSW (AAP)

Premier Mike Baird says he is open to Chinese investors partially buying NSW's poles and wires as he prepares for his trip to the Asian superpower.

Mr Baird will be in China over the next three days as part of his first international trip as premier.

He'll use the trip to invite Chinese investors to take part in his plan to lease 49 per cent of NSW's electricity distribution network, commonly known as the poles and wires.

Under the plan, which Mr Baird is taking to the March election, the government expects to raise $20 billion to be ploughed back into critical infrastructure projects.

Mr Baird says he has no reservations about Chinese investors taking part in the sale.

"Any economy that ignores international investment is restricting the growth," he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

"We're open to investment from overseas and obviously

we'd welcome any player that wants to put its hand up to invest."

He stressed that under the proposed poles and wires sale, 51 per cent of the assets would still be owned by the NSW government.

Mr Baird will also use the trip to spruik his China strategy, released earlier on Tuesday, which sets targets for trade between the Asian nation and NSW.

The strategy aims to double the value of Chinese tourism to NSW by 2020 and calls for Sydney to become a trading hub for the Chinese yuan, officially known as the renminbi.

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