China, US will hold trade talks this week

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Source: CCTV.com | 12-13-2006 14:42

Latest : U.S. delegation arrives in Beijing for landmark strategic economic dialogue

China and the United States will hold trade talks later this week with a high-level group of Washington officials set to visit Beijing. The visit comes as China rejects US complaints that it is lagging behind on some WTO pledges.

Meanwhile, experts say that since its entry into the WTO five years ago, China has made great efforts to meet its WTO commitments.

The trade talks between China and US on Thursday and Friday are dubbed as a Strategic Economic Dialogue. The talks will be led by US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi. They are part of a high-level dialogue announced in September to address trade, currency and other disputes.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has rejected a US government report released on Monday that says China is failing to live up to market-opening commitments. And analysts say that five years after China joined the WTO it has made great economic achievements.

Professor He Maochun, Tsinghua University, said, "Over the past five years, China has conducted various reforms in its market economy, and free trade. Some of which took western countries over 400 years to finish. It is perfectly obvious that China has implemented many, many promises that it made."

However,economists say that China's trade imbalance with the US is growing. And that this issue will be high on the agenda during this week's meetings.

Chen Xingdong, economist BNP Paribas Peregrine Securities Ltd, said, "The major issue is quite clear. Trade between China and the US reflects a huge and increasing imbalance. And this can not last for long, and can not last forever, so they have to find a solution to this. And first of all, they have to understand on mutual understand the same situation."

China held a high-ranking Economic Work Conference in Beijing last week. Both President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao attended the gathering. The Chinese government pledged to cut its soaring trade surplus. In its plan for 2007 China is promising to boost imports and encourage domestic consumption.

Editor:Du Xiaodan