U.S. official urges China to be "responsible stakeholder" in world trade system

A senior official with the U.S. Trade Representative Office (USTR) said in Beijing on Friday that China should be a "responsible stakeholder" in the world trade system.

James Mendenhall, general counsel of the USTR told business people and reporters at a business luncheon that negotiations with his Chinese counterparts earlier this week was "constructive" and will help to solve trade disputes between the two major trade partners.

The U.S. official and his colleagues talked with Chinese senior trade officials on bilateral trade ties and some disputes including intellectual property rights and auto parts trade.

Mendenhall said China has done a lot to protect intellectual property rights, he urged China to do more in that respect.

China-U.S. trade witnessed fast growth in recent years. Bilateral trade exceeded 210 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, according to Chinese customs figures.

China has become the forth largest export market and possibly the second largest trade partner of the United States.

However, the two countries also have trade disputes. The United States raised four anti-dumping cases and one special safeguard case against Chinese products from January to November last year, involving 572 million U.S. dollars worth of goods.

Source: Xinhua