South Carolina has a good business environment and has become one of the
hotspots for Chinese investment in the United States, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi
said on Sunday.
Economic and trade contacts and cooperation between the southeastern U.S.
state and China have produced good results in recent years, with South
Carolina's trade with China reaching 3.26 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, Wu said
at a meeting with U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint, both from the
state.
The vice premier said she was deeply impressed by the hospitality of the
South Carolina people and the desire of the state's businesses to cooperate with
China.
South Carolina has become a hotspot for Chinese investment. China's Hai'er
Group established a home appliances production base in South Carolina in 1999,
its first in North America, creating job opportunities and contributing to local
economic development, she said.
To enhance Chinese companies' understanding of South Carolina's investment
environment, Wu said, the China Chamber of Commerce in the USA would host a
"China-South Carolina economic, trade and investment forum" with the state
government.
Further expansion of economic and trade relations between China and the
United States is conducive to promoting exchanges and cooperation in culture,
science and technology, and tourism between the two countries, the vice premier
noted.
It is natural that some friction and issues will occur in the rapid
development of the China-U.S. economic and trade relations, and the two sides
should solve these issues with the utmost sincerity and through equal
consultations, she pointed out.
It will not work to try to solve these issues by exerting pressure on the
other side, which would, instead, only generate negative results, she said.
The Chinese vice premier added that she would co-chair the 17th meeting of
the Sino-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in Washington with U.S.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Trade Representative Rob Portman.
At the meeting, they will exchange views on major issues surrounding economic
and trade relations in a bid to enhance mutual trust on issues affecting
bilateral trade, and to strive for consensus. This will create favorable
conditions for the healthy and stable development of the China-U.S. economic and
trade relationship.
For their part, Graham and DeMint said Wu's visit to the United States helped
the exchange and understanding between the two countries, and the state of South
Carolina had a strong interest in strengthening economic and trade cooperation
with China.
They said South Carolina welcomed more Chinese companies to invest in the
state, adding that an increase in Sino business activity would make the
relationship between the two sides closer.
South Carolina and China have huge potentials for cooperation in education,
health care, and science and technology, they said. Entrepreneurs and scholars
from the two sides should strengthen exchanges and cooperation to play a
positive role in building a long-term, favorable economic and trade relationship
between China and the United States, they said.