China to expand imports from US: Premier Wen

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 29, 2003

China to expand imports from US: Premier Wen

China will expand imports from the US and it hopes the US side ease restrictions on exports to China, Premier Wen Jiabao told US Commerce Secretary Donald Evans Tuesday. "We hold that a basically balanced trade relationship between China and US should be pursued in the course of development".

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Chinese Premier meets US Commerce Secretary

China will expand imports from the United States and it hopes the US side ease restrictions on exports to China, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told US Commerce Secretary Donald Evans in Beijing Tuesday.

"We hold that a basically balanced trade relationship between China and the United States should be pursued in the course of development," Wen said during a meeting with Evans.

He assured the US commerce secretary that China will take measures to expand its imports from the United States.

Meanwhile, China expected the United States to grant it a status of market economy and relax export restrictions targeted atChina, Wen said.

The two countries should solve problems of bilateral trade through negotiations in order to safeguard a healthy and steady development of trade relations and seek a win-win result eventually, he said.

Describing China-US trade ties as "an important basis" of the two countries' relationship, Wen said it complied to the fundamental interests of both the Chinese and American people to further promote bilateral trade.

"There exists huge potential in this field because the economies of China and the United States are mutually complementary," he said.

Ahead of the meeting with Evans, Wen met with a delegation of the US-China Business Council, which was led by the council's chairman Christopher Galvin.

Yu Guangzhou, vice-minister of commerce, also had a fruitful discussion with Evans on expanded co-operation in the area of economics and trade.

He said China hopes to bring about a balance in exports and imports and has made great efforts to bring this about.

"We will encourage local companies to purchase in the United States and to try to expand imports from the United States," Yu said.

In order to achieve the goal, Yu wants the United States to expand the range of products that can be exported to China.

The United States has long-standing bans on exports to China of a range of products, including those connected with information technology.

"China is willing to work jointly with the United States to shrink the trade imbalance," the vice-minister said.

Yu believes that Chinese exports to the United States, which in total value amount to only 1 per cent of the total US gross domestic product, could not have any significant effect on the employment situation in the United States.

Evans welcomed the suggestion by Yu, saying that he expected officials of the two sides to engage in detailed negotiation in the future.

He is optimistic about settling the current problems in bilateral economic and trade development.

According to Chinese statistics, bilateral trade volume between the two nations reached US$90.98 billion in the first nine months this year, a 29.9 per cent rise year-on-year.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue commented trade development between China and the United States has been "good and healthy in general" at yesterday's regular press briefing.

In response to US criticism of China's trade practices, Zhang said: "The Sino-US trade deficit is actually not that large," adding the United States had a favourable trade balance with China for the 21 years from 1972 to 1993 and its trade deficit with China only appeared after 1996.

According to China's own statistical calculations, the US trade deficit with China is smaller than US calculations make it, she said, though she did not elaborate.

By People's Daily Online

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