A number of Chinese experts and enterprisers on Monday said China and the United States will see closer economic ties.

The remark is in reply to the belief that economic ties between China and the United States has been disconnected, proposed by some foreign economists recently amid worries of the possible decline of the U.S. economy.

The saying is only an academic judgment, a Chinese enterpriser told Xinhua.

"The fact is totally different," said Huang Baoan, vice president of Jinwang Group, China's largest candle producer base in Qingdao City, Shandong Province.

The U.S. economy is playing a more important role in the development of Jinwang Group as well as other export-oriented enterprises in China, Huang said.

Last year, the group, also Asia's largest in the sector, reported an export value of 150 million U.S. dollars, in which one third went to the U.S. market.

Since the U.S. carried out an anti-dumping drive against China-manufactured candles in 2005, dozens of candle producers across China closed because of decreasing market demand in the U.S.

Jinwang exports were also affected by the drive, forcing it to set up plants in the Republic of Korea and Vietnam in order to develop more markets. "Now, any change in the U.S. market is fatal to those export-oriented enterprises," he added.

Many experts attending the ongoing "Two Sessions" -- the annual full meetings of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference -- showed optimism on Sino-U.S. economic ties.

The two countries will see mutual development and further cooperation in the future, said Li Yining, a leading economist with Beijing University.

"China and the U.S. will become more and more interdependent in this sector of the economy," he said.

According to government statistics, China has become a major export partner of the U.S., exceeding Japan and Canada to rank the third in export volume last year. Meanwhile, the U.S. is the largest export partner of China. In 2007, the total trade volume between China and the United States reached 300 billion U.S. dollars.

"Even if the U.S. economic growth is slowing down, export from China to the U.S. will not be influenced because cash-strapped consumers in the country will be more fond of bargain commodities made in China," Li said.

Via promoting export to China, the U.S. may ease the economic impact brought on by the sub-prime mortgage crisis, he said.

Li Daokui, director of an international economic research center under the Tsinghua University, said Chinese people are striving to improve living standard by driving private cars and moving into bigger houses.

The people's wishes will promote growth of domestic demand and further improve investment in infrastructure construction and auto industry, Li said.

The growth of domestic demand will help China reduce impact from overseas economic crisis, he added.

The Chinese government is paying great attention to the expanding U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis and the falling dollar value. The Report on the Work of the Government, delivered at the first session of the 11th National People's Congress on March 5, said China must be fully prepared for changes in the international environment and become better able to defuse risks.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2008)