BEIJING, Aug 30: the US-China talks on Tuesday wrapped up a first day of complex textile talks seen as a last-ditch effort to strike a deal before a US visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao scheduled for next week.
The talks started one day before the US government was scheduled to make a decision on whether to impose limits on six categories of China and the United States
“Since President Hu Jintao is soon going to the United States, there should be even greater hope that an agreement can be reached,” the China Business News said, paraphrasing what it said was a common view among local analysts.
A foreign observer said it was probably “very much” the intention of the two delegations to seek to remove the immediate irritant of the textile dispute before Hu departs for the United States, Canada and Mexico on September 5.
During his trip Hu will try to persuade his US counterpart George W. Bush that protectionist measures are not the best way to deal with China’s trade surplus with America, according to Chinese officials.
A team led by David Spooner, the US point man on textiles, sat down for a full day of talks with a Chinese delegation headed by Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, according to a statement on the ministry’s website.
“China hopes that the two parties will adopt a positive attitude while seeking a solution that will create a stable environment for China-US textile trade,” the ministry said.
The first day of the closed-door talks, scheduled to last two days, was characterized as “constructive” by a foreign observer.
The US textile industry wants a deal that limits Chinese imports in more than 19 categories of apparel to a 7.5 percent growth rate per year until 2008.
Chinese state media said the Beijing talks were conducted at a higher level than in San Francisco, leaving hope that a deal might be struck.
“This means that the two sides might reach agreement at this round of talks,” unnamed analysts told state-run Xinhua news agency.
On Monday, an EU delegation departed Beijing after four days of textile talks, leaving further negotiations to the resident EU mission in the Chinese capital.
EU trade chief Peter Mandelson warned Tuesday of shortages of clothes supplies and higher prices unless EU member states agree to measures to break a logjam of Chinese textile imports at European ports.
Some 75 million garments, including sweaters, trousers, blouses, T-shirts, bras and tons of flax yarn, are being held up in European ports because they exceed an EU quota imposed in June to protect local manufacturers.
The trouble that the European Union and China have run into should act as an extra incentive for the American negotiators, Chinese state media said.
“It should serve as a warning to the United States, and as far as China is concerned, it might be a good time to talk,” the China Business News argued.—AFP
