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Sino-US trade talks kick off again
By Dai Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-10-13 08:33
China and the United States yesterday kicked off a new round of talks in
Beijing, harbouring hopes to find a comprehensive solution to settle the long
drawn-out disputes in this round.
The Chinese delegation is headed by Lu Jianhua, director of the Foreign Trade
Department under the Ministry of Commerce while David Spooner, special
negotiator for textiles at the US Trade Representative's Office, leads the US
side, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
The closed-door meeting, held in the main building of the Ministry of
Commerce in Beijing, is scheduled to end today. The two sides failed to reach
any agreement in the last five rounds of talks. The most recent round was held
in Washington from September 26-28.
Since global quotas were scrapped on January 1, the United States has set
limits on nine categories of textile products imported from China, including
shirts, trousers, underwear and yarn.
Both Chinese and US industries have expectations that a deal could be signed
in this round since differences have been narrowed in previous talks.
The talks are predicted to focus on the duration of the pact, product
coverage, quota growth rate and the base figure for determining exports.
China wanted the resolution of the textile dispute between China and the
European Union in June to be a model for solving the Sino-US dispute.
China and the EU eased tensions when they agreed to limit the growth of 10
Chinese textile exports to the EU to 8.5-12.5 per cent until the end of 2007.
As a threatening pose, Washington accepted a US industry request to consider
quotas on another 13 types of Chinese textile exports, bringing the number that
could be restricted to 27.
However, in a sign the two sides are edging closer to a pact, US Trade
Representative Rob Portman was prepared if needed to fly to Beijing to sign a
deal, industry sources quoted by Reuters said.
Another US senior official, Treasury Secretary John Snow was visiting
Shanghai yesterday to urge the Chinese authorities to speed up reform of the
country's financial market.
"It's clear the potential of the financial sector to play a larger role in
the economy is enormous," Snow said when he visited the Shanghai Stock Exchange,
adding that he would continue to press for more progress towards a more
flexible, market-driven exchange rate.
Apart from the stock exchange, he visited a new office for foreign exchange
trading in Shanghai. He also met financial market leaders based in the city as
well as representatives of the American businesses operating in the region.
Commenting on the trade surplus between China and the US, Snow admitted that
trade protectionism on the rise in the US would pose a serious problem to the US
economy.
He will head to Beijing for the G20 meeting after a brief visit to the inland
city of Chengdu in western China.
(China Daily 10/13/2005 page10)
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