BEIJING: China could sign up to 15 billion dollars in trade contracts with the United States as part of a buying spree before President Hu Jintao’s visit this month, state press reported on Friday.

A Chinese trade delegation, which left for the United States on Monday, has already signed deals worth $4 billion, including with US icons Microsoft and Ford, the China Business News reported.

Many more contracts are expected to be signed in the lead-up to and during Mr Hu’s visit, with potential airplane purchases from Boeing among the most significant.

“If the contracts with Boeing are signed as planned then the total purchase orders will amount to around $15 billion,” the China Business News reported, citing Zhou Xiaomei, the Chinese consulate spokeswoman in Los Angeles.

Mr Hu is expected to hold a summit with US President George Bush during an April 18-22 visit to the United States that will include a stopover in Seattle, where Boeing planes are manufactured.

Separate Chinese press reports said that Beijing was in talks to purchase up to 80 Boeing aircraft. It was not clear whether the purchases had been previously announced or were an entirely new order.

China signed a deal for 70 Boeing 737s worth $4 billion during President Bush’s visit to Beijing in November.

The Chinese trade delegation, led by Vice Premier Wu Yi, includes about 200 businessmen representing 110 enterprises. It would sign contracts with a vast array of US companies, China’s foreign ministry said this week.

“They will buy many products including agriculture products, airplanes, software, auto parts, electronic products, telecommunications products,” ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Thursday.

The buying spree is being seen as a bid by Beijing to placate US concerns over the huge US trade deficit with China, which last year hit a record 202 billion dollars.

Washington has maintained steady pressure on China in the Lead-up to Mr Hu’s visit on trade issues such as market access, intellectual property rights protection and Beijing’s alleged efforts to keep its currency undervalued.

Wu Yi, one of China’s most experienced trade negotiators, sought to play down the tensions while at a signing ceremony in Los Angeles on Thursday.

“The friction in Sino-US trade relations is normal,” the China News Service quoted Mr Wu as saying.—AFP