China is optimistic about Sino-US economic and trade relations despite friction between the two countries, a top official said.
   
"Bilateral trade between China and the United States grew to some US$169.6 billion last year from US$2.5 billion 26 years ago, which shows that the two economies are complementary," said Bo Xilai, China's minister of commerce.
  
The remarks were made on Monday when Bo met Robert Portman, the newly elected US trade representative.
   
Portman echoed Bo by saying that the United States attaches great importance to bilateral trade and economic co-operation ranging from agriculture to services.

As for the issue of textile trade between the two countries, Bo criticized the US investigation launched in April into three categories of textiles imported from China.

The United States violated the basic principles of free trade as well as the regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Bo said.
   
The surge in China's textile exports came about through the removal of quotas from a market that has been distorted for decades, according to Bo.
   
If safeguard measures were launched against China's textiles, it would hurt developing countries' confidence in the multilateral trade system, he said.
   
The Chinese Government has adopted a series of measures, including imposing export tariffs, lowering the tax rebate rate, and issuing export permits to control textile exports.
   
These moves have made great progress as textile export growth dropped sharply in March compared with the preceding month, according to Bo.
   
Meanwhile, the minister said China had spared no effort in fulfilling its commitments to the WTO and it would continue to push forward the Doha talks.

The minister, who is currently in France, has met French counterpart Francois Loos and is also expected to discuss Sino-EU textile trade disputes with EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.
   
The European Commission laid out guidelines to watch textile imports from China earlier in April and officially initiated an investigation into nine categories of textile imported from China last week.

(China Daily May 6, 2005)