Foreign and Military Affairs

Vice-minister to visit US on trade relations

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-20 17:39

BEIJING - Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan will pay a three-day visit to the United States from March 24 to strengthen economic and trade cooperation, said a statement posted on the official website of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) Friday.

The visit was aimed at expanding bilateral trade and promoting the healthy and stable development of the Sino-US economic and trade relations, the statement said.

Zhong would also negotiate with the US administration over Sino-US trade issues in an effort to increase mutual understanding, and defuse trade frictions, the statement said.

"Sino-US economic and trade relations are mutually beneficial," said He Ning, director general of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs of the MOC.

"China believes any economic and trade issues, including the RMB (Chinese currency) exchange rate, can be resolved through dialogue.

"But we should avoid politicizing economic and trade issues," He told journalists Friday in Beijing.

He said commodities trade figures only mirrored flows of the products, but it could not truly reveal the beneficiaries.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said earlier this month that half of China's exports came from the processing trade, in which imported components were assembled at factories in China and 60 percent were made by foreign-funded companies or joint ventures with foreign partners.

MOC spokesman Yao Jian said Tuesday China welcomed more US high-tech exports, and was willing to promote more balanced Sino-US trade.