A senior Chinese diplomat said Sunday evening in Washington that the United States is very likely to grant the permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to China.

Speaking to Chinese reporters on an online live interview, minister of the Chinese Embassy in the US Liu Xiaoming said the passage of PNTR is in the great interest of the US, its enterprises and its people.

US Senate on Tuesday will finally begin debate in Washington on the historic trade pact with China, which if approved, would end the annual review of Sino-US trade links and offer Beijing permanent low tariff access to US markets.

While answering a question raised by a Beijing Youth Daily reporter on the China Central Television (CCTV) online interview, Liu affirmed that problems still loom large on the PNTR issue, as some US people still have biases towards China.

Meanwhile, China's deputy representative to the United Nations Shen Guofang said President Jiang Zemin's upcoming trip to the three-day UN Millennium Summit in New York will be of vital importance to China's improved "constructive role" in the world in the future.

President Jiang's trip, starting Monday, will help prefect China's image of a big nation in the world, Shen said while answering a question from a CCTV journalist.

Shen joined Liu Xiaoming on the specially-arranged online interview Sunday with Chinese journalists in Beijing.

He added that the president's trip will also help China to participate in forging the world's new political and economic mechanism in a more positive way, and make the efforts come into full play.

(Chinadaily 09/3/2000)