Sino-US trade links and the Taiwan question will be topics topping Premier Wen Jiabao's agenda during his four-day official visit to the United States next week, a senior official said yesterday.

At a briefing in Beijing, Vice-Foreign Minister Zhou Wenzhong described the mammoth trade volume between China and the United States as a win-win pattern and said it is beneficial to both sides.

China has become the fastest growing export market for US goods. During the first 10 months of this year US exports to China increased by 25.7 per cent over the same period last year, creating 500,000 job opportunities in the US, he said.

During Wen's visit, relevant departments of the two sides will sign a series of agreements in the fields of transportation, quarantine, public health and other areas, Zhou disclosed.

Regarding the trade imbalance which has aroused great concern in the US Government, he said the deficit in favour of China is not as large as what the US estimates.

Moreover, 90 per cent of China's exports to the United States are labour-intensive products long abandoned by US enterprises, he explained.

Wen leaves on Sunday and will stop in New York, Washington and Boston before travelling to Canada, Mexico and Ethiopia. He'll return to China on December 16.

(China Daily 12/04/2003 page2)