The Chinese government attaches great importance to talks this week with the team sent by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Vice Minister of Commerce Wei Jianguo said in Beijing Monday.

Wei made the remark at a press conference about the second ministerial meeting between China and Portuguese-speaking countries on economic issues.

In reply to reporters' questions from the press, Wei said "the two sides will exchange views on a wide range of issues of common concern."

Both China and the United States attach great importance to the trade talks in Beijing, and hope that consensus will be reached on some issues, he said.

The Bush administration announced last Friday that it was sending a trade negotiating team to China this week in an effort to make progress in trade disputes between the two countries.

Jim Mendenhall, general counsel for U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman, will lead the USTR team, scheduled to meet in Beijing with Chinese officials on Wednesday.

Sensitive issues including the expanding trade deficit, exchange rate change, intellectual property right protection as well as textile and auto product trade are expected to be discussed during the coming talks between Chinese and U.S. trade officials.

The United States is now China's second largest trade partner after the European Union, with the bilateral trade volume between China and the U. S. in 2005 amounting to 211.63 billion dollars, an increase of 24.8 percent, according to Chinese figures.

The U.S. government has been worrying about the growing trade deficit with China, pressuring China to further appreciate its currency, Renminbi, so as to slow down its exports to the U.S. market.

Commenting on the USTR's figure of U.S. trade deficits with China of 202 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Chong Quan said that there is great disparity between U.S. and Chinese statistics.

The trade deficit figures released by the United States are exaggerated -- they should be 114.17 billion U.S. dollars according to Chinese statistics, Chong said last Friday.

"Any decision made by the Chinese government on the exchange rate accords with China's national conditions, and is correct," said Wei at the press conference.

China will not succumb to foreign pressure in exchange rate issue, and it has its own point of view in this area, he noted.

Wei also asked the European Union to give market economy treatment to Chinese shoemakers, saying that the EU's decision to levy anti-dumping duties on Chinese shoes is unfair and violates the World Trade Organization rules.

By November 2005, the total contracted U.S. investment in China was 110.5 billion dollars, involving 48,667 projects, according to Chinese figures.

In the wake of rapid growth of bilateral economic ties, the two nations saw more trade disputes, with the United States launching four antidumping probes and one safeguard investigation against China during the first 11 months of 2005.

Source: Xinhua