Op-Ed Contributors

The surplus of promise

By Chen Deming (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-31 07:51

III. How should both nations steer trade and economic relations toward the right track?

President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama proposed a positive, cooperative and comprehensive partnership for China-US relations. During Obama's visit to China last year, both sides committed through a joint statement to promote a more sustainable and balanced trade and growth and to resist any protectionism measure. We should faithfully honor these shared commitments and avoid doing undesirable harm to China-US trade and economic cooperation.

First, China and the US must be persistent through dialogue and cooperation to resolve disputes. Given the massive scale of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, it's only natural to have divergent views. There are open avenues of communication between the two countries on trade issues. But it does not help if one side, driven by its political agenda at home, puts pressure on the other with unwarranted threats of trade sanctions.

Second, a constructive course of actions should be pursued to effectively address problems. China is not turning away from the US trade deficit issue. It is now accelerating economic restructuring. In its stimulus program to fight the financial crisis, China is increasing investment, stimulating consumption and expanding imports, which has contributed significantly to the global economic recovery.

In 2009, China's trade surplus plunged by $100 billion. In 2009, US exports as a whole dropped by 17 percent but its exports to China were on par with last year. In the first two months of 2010, China's trade surplus further dipped by 50 percent, and an overall deficit in March is a real possibility. By US statistics, US exports were up 18.2 percent in January this year but its China-bound exports grew by 64.9 percent.

Without a doubt, China will move forward in promoting its imports while dissuading exporting nations from keeping discriminatory export controls in order to maintain global economic growth. Suppressing Chinese exports provides no relief for redressing the bilateral trade imbalance. We are willing to make concerted efforts with the US to extend our cooperation into new areas, facilitate more exports by American businesses to China, level and improve the playing field for American and other foreign-invested enterprises in China. We look to the US for an open spirit in protecting the health and growth of China-US trade and economic cooperation.

Third, efforts should be aimed at building and perfecting the global trading system. Open trade and investment hold unequivocal significance for the economies of China, the US and beyond. The Doha round has yielded a great deal of progress after eight years of negotiations. We should build on this progress and show greater sincerity and determination to facilitate the free, orderly movement of goods and capital across the world and introduce greater harmony and discipline into the world economy.

The China-US trade and commercial relationship is a cornerstone of China-US relations. We always believe a peaceful China-US relationship makes both countries winners; a confrontational relationship, on the other hand, creates losers. It is better to have dialogue than confrontation, cooperation than containment, and partnership than rivalry. I am confident the China-US trade and economic cooperation will rise above the din of negative opinion and stay on the right course.

The author is the minister of commerce.