BBC: Little progress in US-Chia talks

[Dao Van <daotb@yahoo.com>]

The Economy

Little progress in US-China talks

China's economy is shaking off deflation

Talks between China and the US appear to have made little progress on
China's joining the World Trade Organisation. 

At a meeting on Sunday between US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers
and Premier Zhu Rongji - the latest in a series of unofficial meetings
between the two countries - little progress was made. 

China broke off WTO negotiations in May, following the NATO bombing of
the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo conflict. 

The US maintains the attack was an accident, but US-China relations have
suffered since the incident. 


US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers met Premier Zhu Rongji and senior
Chinese economic officials in Lanzhou, in north west China, for talks
designed to mend some of the cracks in the two countries relationship
ahead of the meeting of WTO ministers in Seattle next month. 

But following the meeting, their was little sign that the deadlock over
China's refusal to open its markets to foreign competition as much as
the western nations want had been broken. 

Without agreement, there is little chance of China entering the
134-member organisation of of free-trading nations. 

Mr Summers said: "The premier and I had very useful discussions on a
range of topics, including China's accession to the the WTO. 

Positive reaction

"We strongly reaffirmed to each other our
common desire to see China enter the WTO as soon as possible, and for an
agreement to be reached in advance of the Seattle meeting. 


"We recognised the challenges that remain
on both sides, and very usefully explained and clarified our respective
national positions."

Mr Summers is the first US cabinet-level official to see the Chinese
premier since the embassy bombing. 

He said he was confident that Beijing was reacting positively to US
calls to promote growth by boosting domestic demand rather than exports.

China's central bank governor Dai Xianlong also told Mr Summers that
they believed the period of deflation in the country's economy was
coming to an end. 

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