The Chinese government is "deeply concerned" about the seizure by Russian police of the Chinese shoe, and has urged Russia to look at trade disputes "objectively and in historical perspective," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao Tuesday.

Liu made the remark at a regular press conference concerning Chinese shoes seized in a Russian police raid in south Moscow on March 12.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Commerce and China's embassy in Russia "made representations to the relevant Russian department immediately after the incident," Liu said.

"This issue is very complicated," he said.

Liu urged both Chinese and Russian companies to carry out business according to law, referring the "gray customs clearance" as the cause of irregularities in Sino-Russian trade.

Chinese goods can enter Russia through "gray customs clearance," which is recognized by Russia's Customs Commission. However, retailers of goods that entered Russia through "gray clearance" have no official customs documents. China and Russia have agreed that until the issue of "gray customs clearance" is resolved, it is not acceptable for each side to take unilateral action such as seizing the goods.

"Problems should be properly resolved through negotiations by the Sino-Russian working team regulating trade," Liu said. He urged Russia to crackdown on its own illegal clearance companies.

"The case is still under investigation. The Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Commerce, together with other Chinese departments home and abroad, will continue to closely follow the latest progress so as to safeguard legitimate interest of Chinese companies and merchants in Russia," he said.

Generally speaking, Liu said, Sino-Russian trade is good, with bilateral trade volume hitting a new record high of 21.2 billion US dollars in 2004.

In the first two months of this year, the bilateral trade continued to grow stably, and the Chinese goods seizure issue is only an incident taking place in the process of regulating Sino-Russian trade, he said.

"China hopes to make joint efforts with Russia through friendly negotiations so as to regulate the bilateral trade order and push forward the healthy development of Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation," Liu said. He also reminded Chinese merchants to get official customs declaration documents in Russia.