China-US Trade and Economic Cooperation Sees Robust Growth

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 22, 2002

China-US Trade and Economic Cooperation Sees Robust Growth

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Trade and economic cooperation between China and the United States has grown vigorously in recent years, with the latter now the biggest source of overseas investment in China and its second largest trading partner.

Figures released by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) show that US investment in China has soared this year after China became a member of the World Trade Organization late last year.

From January to August, the number of newly-established US-funded ventures in China came to 2,086, up 25.6 percent. US contractual investment was worth 7.14 billion US dollars, up 50.5 percent, amounting to 11.4 percent of all the contractual overseas investment in China.

Actual US investment for the eight months reached 3.47 billion US dollars, up 31.6 percent, accounting for 10 percent of all actual investment in China.

The number of US-funded ventures in China now totals about 36,000, with contractual US investment of 75.26 billion US dollars, and actual investment of 38.36 billion US dollars. The United States has been the biggest source of overseas investment in China for three consecutive years.

More than 300 out of the top 500 US ventures have invested in China. Big US investors in China, like General Motors, Motorola, Coca Cola and IBM, have all had good returns for their investment.

"US investors in China have gained huge profits," said a MOFTEC official, who declined to be named, on the eve of Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to the United States. "They have also brought into China advanced technologies and management expertise. It was a win-win cooperation."

China-US trade has also increased steadily. From January to August this year, two-way trade reached 60.22 billion US dollars, up 14.6 percent. China's exports to the United States rose 22.7 percent to 43.03 billion US dollars, while its imports from the United States dipped 1.7 percent to 17.18 billion US dollars.

Some Chinese trade analysts predicted that the two-way trade may reach 92 billion US dollars this year, setting a new record.

Currently, the United States is China's second largest trading partner after Japan, and China is the United States' fourth largest trading partner after Canada, Mexico and Japan.

Since China and the United States established full diplomatic relations in 1979, trade and economic cooperation generally have grown steadily despite some disputes. According to Chinese statistics, from 1979 to 2001, two-way trade surged by 31.8 times, with China's exports to the US up 90.2 times, and its imports from the US up 13.1 times.

According to US statistics, the two-way trade from 1979 to 2001grew even more by 50.3 times.

China-US trade and economic cooperation has developed relatively smoothly since 2001. Several ministerial officials of the US administration visited China this year.

"Exchanges between officials of the trade and economic departments of the two countries helped increase mutual understanding as well as settle some bilateral trade issues," said the MOFTEC official.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin begins his latest visit to the United States on Tuesday. Jiang and US President George W. Bush will meet for the third time since October last year. Such meetings between the heads of state of both countries would fuel bilateral relations and create a favorable environment for trade and economic cooperation, the official said.

"Trade and economic cooperation are an important part of China-US relations," said the MOFTEC official. "The development of two-way trade and economic cooperation will add more depth to bilateral relations and help the consolidation and development of the state-to-state relationship."

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