China says politicizing bilateral trade issues not in U.S. interest

BEIJING, March 2 Kyodo

China said Thursday that its economic problems with the United States should not be politicized, warning the United States that doing so would not be in Washington's interests.

''Should there be disputes or problems in the economic and trade area, or in the area of intellectual property right protection, we hope to appropriately solve them through an attitude of equality, development and cooperation,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular press briefing.

''These problems should not be politicized, and allowed to disturb the development of Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations,'' Qin said. ''That does not confirm with the interests of the United States.''

The comments come at a time when U.S. trade negotiators are in China to discuss, among other issues, enforcement of intellectual property rights.

U.S. Trade Representative general counsel Jim Mendenhall arrived in China on Tuesday for talks with Chinese officials, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Beijing said.

Washington has been calling for the improvement of the enforcement of intellectual property rights in China, where piracy of copyrighted material remains rampant.

Frustration is also growing in U.S. Congress about the ballooning trade deficit with China. The U.S. trade deficit in goods with China in 2005 topped the $200 billion level for the first time.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Kyodo News International, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning