China welcomes the proposal made by the United States on eliminating agricultural export subsidies by a certain date, said Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi in Beijing Thursday.  

Wu said during a meeting with visiting Trade Representative of the United States Robert Zoellick that as the agricultural issue is the core and vital to the new round of multilateral trade talks, the US proposal is "constructive."

The US proposals were made by Zoellick last month in a letter to ministers of members of the World Trade Organization after the ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, collapsed last September. Zoellick made a number of proposals on negotiations concerning agriculture, goods and services.

The US trade representative arrived in Beijing Wednesday night following his trip to Tokyo. He will also visit Singapore and south Asia, Africa and Europe before returning to the United States to discuss with trade officials of major trading partners issues concerning the progress in the new round, known as the Doha Development Agenda.

Wu told him that China supports the new round to return to a normal track as early as possible and has worked vigorously for that.

"We think that an early conclusion of a package of win-win agreements from the new round would serve not only the interests of the developed members, but also the developing members," Wu said.

She stressed that new members of the WTO like China enjoy a special status in the new round and should be granted the special and differential treatment.

As a new and developing member of the WTO, China has strictly implemented its pledges made in its accession to the WTO, and contributed to the multilateral trading system of the world, she said.

Zoellick said the United States and China share common interests in economic and trade areas, and have similar stance on the new round of talks. He said China's active participation would help push forward the trade talks.

Both Zoellick and Secretary of Commerce of the United States Donald Evans are the co-chairmen of the US side of the Sino-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). Wu Yi is the Chinese side chairperson of the JCCT, whose 15th session will be held in the United States in April this year.

Trade between China and the United States reached a historic high of US$126.3 billion in 2003 despite disputes over issues such as anti-dumping and trade unbalance.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2004)