Visiting US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez announced yesterday that the US would do more to encourage Chinese students to pursue their higher education in the US.

 

"We want Chinese students to know that the US welcomes them," Gutierrez told members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai yesterday.

 

He said that the US government's efforts to attract more Chinese students would "testify to the strong bonds between our two nations and the importance the US places on education, young people and future of the two nations."

 

The latest initiative to this end is the US Electronic Education Fair for China, which will start in Shanghai on Saturday and later move to Beijing and Guangdong.

 

Twenty years ago, there were only 11,000 Chinese students in the US, while the figure currently stands at 63,000.

 

"We expect the number to grow," Gutierrez said.

 

Before visiting Shanghai, Gutierrez met senior Chinese officials in Beijing, hoping to promote exports to China in order to ease the current trade imbalance.

 

"We believe increasing exports to China is the best way to close the trade gap between our two countries," he said.

 

The US trade deficit with China reached a record US$102.2 billion in the first nine months of the year, which added to already strong protectionist sentiment in the US.

 

"The best way to prevent protectionism is fair access," he said.

 

"The US and China should work together to stem the rise of protectionism in the US," he said.

 

"We have a lot to do in the area of trade. We're looking forward to working with the new Congress to get a very aggressive trade agenda."

 

In another development, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Chong Quan told reporters yesterday that China agrees that the trade imbalance with the US should be addressed by increasing US exports to China, but expects Washington to relax restrictions on Chinese high-tech exports.

 

"The Chinese market is an open market. We welcome US products and services to China and we hope the US could export to China the products we need," said Chong.

 

(China Daily November 16, 2006)