Chinese Vice Commerce Minister calls on joint efforts on balancing Sino-US trade

Vice Commerce Minister of China Mr. Liao Xiaoqi asked for joint efforts of both his country and the US to realize a balanced bilateral trade in his article published on the overseas edition of the People's Daily Nov. 25. Following is his comments on this issue.

As the Sino-US trade has kept expanding fast and is conducting in a large scale, it is normal to see problems and disputes emerge. Given this, both sides should, with a future-sake strategic vision for the economic and trade ties between them, find solutions through consultation on an equal basis and further cooperation.

It is true that there is deficit on the US side in the bilateral trade. Reasons for this is complicated. The problem of trade structure, trade transfer, and the different statistics methodology, as well as the US restriction on its exports to China have all contributed a lot to this result.

In recent years, the swelling US trade deficit with China is largely due to the transfer of the deficit which used to occur in US trade with Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. This is the result of the global industrial adjustment. 90 percent of US imported products are not produced in the US. That means the US has to buy from other countries even if it did not buy from China.

In the past, the US exported commodities to China directly. Now its export to China is still growing year by year. in addition, the US businesses produce and sell their products in China through their ventures here. Their products are grabbing more and more share on the China market. But that is not reflected by the trade statistics.

For years China has been making great efforts with the utmost sincerity on smoothing the unbalanced trade with the US. In 2004, China imported 28 billion USD from around the world, with 7.7 billion USD from the US. With the help of the Chinese government, several Chinese enterprises delegations have been to the US to purchase there to expand China's imports.

However, the trade problem cannot be solved with China's sincerity only. The US holds many sophisticated tech products that China needs for its economic development. But the US export long restrictions on its hi-tech exports has turned China away from the US to other sources. In 2004 China's tech imports from the EU valued 5.5 billion USD, soaring 63.3 percent over the previous year. That contrasted with China's 2.9 billion USD tech imports from the US, which is down by 10.6 percent. The US has refused to sell nuclear power and satellite products and as a result lost deals worth at least 25 billion USD. If the US government loosens its control over its exports, it will give a considerable spur to its exports to China and the bilateral trade.

China has recognized that the protection of intellectual property rights improves a country's credibility in the international community and helps its international cooperation. In China's case, besides that, it facilitates China's efforts on optimizing its market economy system and developing its own science and technology.

The Chinese government is responsible and has strong determination, clear attitude and aggressive actions on IP protection. And it has made enormous progress on this issue. During the period from Nov. last year to Oct. 17 this year, China's public security administration had handled 2268 IPR cases worth a total of 1.6 billion yuan and arrested 4080 criminal suspects.

It takes time for any country to have a perfect IPR legal framework in place and enhance the awareness of IPR protection. It is an arduous task for China to build a perfect IPR system in a short time while developed countries have spent more than a hundred years on the same mission. There are some problems in China's IPR issue. But those problems are given much attention and are being solved.

In the mean time, the IPR issue is also a global issue and calls for cooperation. China is ready to learn from other country's experience and joint hands with other countries to protect the intellectual property rights effectively.

by People's Daily Online