BEIJING -
Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai has called on
the United States to work with China to make a
bigger "cake of trade" for win-win results. "We
should continue expanding two-way trade from a
long-term perspective on the road of win-win
cooperation," he said at a dinner of the American
Chamber of Commerce in China on December 9.
Citing the framework agreement for China's
purchase of 70 Boeing 737 planes signed during
President George W Bush's successful
visit
to China late last month, Bo said China was
expected to need 500 more planes by the year 2010
and more than 2,000 in the year 2020. "The Chinese
market is still at the puberty stage, and this is
the foundation for our cooperation," the minister
said.
Hailing the signing of the agreement
between China and the US on textile exports, which
the minister described as a win-win deal, Bo said
if the two countries could face trade friction in
the spirit of mutual respect and keep their
composure, China and the US would surely get along
well in bilateral trade.
On the much
talked-about trade deficit between the two
countries, the minister said trade between China
and the US was complementary rather than
competitive. "Some people in the United States are
complaining that China's exports have resulted in
the loss of jobs there. However, as far as I know,
thanks to growing China-US trade, the jobs lost in
the manufacturing sector have been more than
offset with new jobs in the [shipping, logistics
and trade] field," Bo said.
In fact, he
added, China had earned a very tiny proportion of
the profits from manufactured goods exported to
the US, with US importers and retailers taking the
lion's share of the profits. Moreover, China had
used a fairly big part of its hard-earned foreign
exchange to buy US Treasury bonds, he said.
"On the whole, trade between China and the
United States is balanced, and China is importing
an increasing number of US products," Bo said,
adding that China became the fourth biggest export
market of the United States this year.
On
the issue of intellectual property rights (IPR),
the minister said China had set IPR protection as
a state policy, which is vital for the country to
cultivate its capability of independent
innovation.
China welcomed overseas
investors to cooperate in this field, and would
take seriously any case of IPR infringement, he
said.
