While many people in the United States have blamed job losses there on an increase in imports from China, one veteran American businessman has said that exports to China have actually helped to create jobs.

Interviewed by China Daily via e-mail recently, Myron A. Brilliant, vice-president in charge of Asian affairs at the Washington-based US Chamber of Commerce's international division, said the US has an overall trade surplus with China in terms of both goods and services.

"Such exports (to China) support well-paying American jobs," he said.

In 2006, US exports to China grew by 32 percent on the previous year, making China the fastest growing major market for US goods.

The increase has created a huge number of jobs all over the US, Brilliant said.

"One of our member companies has increased its exports to China by 40 percent in recent years, which has helped to create some 5,000 new production jobs here in the United States," he said.

The US has witnessed even faster growth in its exports of services, which in 2005 were valued at $3.1 billion, Brilliant said.

Exports of services to China are growing faster than to any other country, he said. While the US has a trade deficit in terms of goods, in 2005 it recorded a surplus of US$2.6 billion with China for services.

US service sector exports and net income gained from service sector investments in China, support upwards of 37,000 jobs in high-productivity sectors of the US economy, Brilliant said.

He also suggested that China should further open its service sector to foreign competitors as, "the availability of more modern services will also help raise productivity and lead to higher standards of living for Chinese people".

Brilliant said: "If the service sector is fully opened, it is estimated that the surplus in services trade will increase to about US$60 billion by 2015, and help create up to 240,000 high-paying US service sector jobs."

For the second round of Sino-US strategic economic dialogue being held in Washington today and tomorrow, Brilliant said he expected the two sides to yield substantial ground in the opening of more commercial air routes in China and reducing tariffs to facilitate China's imports of American clean coal and other energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies.

(China Daily May 22, 2007)