Differences and friction in trade, intellectual property right
(IPR) protection as well as market access should not affect the
sustained, healthy growth of US-China economic relations, said
President Thomas Donohue of the US Chamber of Commerce in Beijing
Monday.??
Donohue made the remark at the round-table meeting of Sino-US
Business Dialogue, which was held by the China Council for the
Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and US Chamber of
Commerce.
"Since the year 2000, US exports to China have doubled and China
has become our fifth largest export market. Many US firms are
reporting that their investments in China are profitable and
enormously beneficial to their global competitiveness," he
said.
"These facts must not be overlooked," he said. "Of course there
have been bumps along the way, but that is normal among big trading
partners."
Some problems including IPR protection and visa difficulty still
exist in Sino-US economic exchanges, but they can be solved through
dialogues between business circles, said CCPIT Vice President Zhang
Wei.
Some Chinese entrepreneurs complained last year of difficulty in
applying for US business visas, so the CCPIT and US Chamber of
Commerce launched a joint investigation, said Zhang.
"We have noticed that the US embassy in China relaxed its
business visa restrictions recently, which was welcomed by Chinese
companies," he said, hoping the US government will take further
measures to effectively and fundamentally resolve the problem.
Vice President Pamela Passman of the US company Microsoft said
that IPR protection has been a hot topic in US-Sino economic ties.
Since piracy is rampant in the IT industry, the software industry
pays more attention to IPR protection, she said.
The Chinese government has noticed the importance of IPR
protection, so this problem should not be an obstacle in US-Sino
economic relations, she said.
It is easy for Chinese consumers to name five US name brands,
but it is difficult for American consumers to name five Chinese
brands, said Vice President Thomas Gorrie of the US Johnson and
Johnson company, whose products entered the Chinese market in
1985.
The US and Chinese companies need to cooperate in brand
strategy, said Gorrie.
(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2005)
