While meeting visiting US Treasury Secretary John
Snow in Beijing yesterday, Premier Wen
Jiabao said economic and trade ties between their countries
were generally good and that existing issues can be settled.
Snow and his delegation arrived in China last
Tuesday.
Briefing the US visitors on China's economic
development, Wen said its enormous domestic market promoted its
economic growth by relying mainly on domestic demand.
He added that China continued to adhere to its
policy of opening up, and would continue overseas cooperation to
seek a better combination of expanding domestic demand and making
rational use of overseas demand so as to promote the country's
steady and rapid economic growth.
Wen said the right principles for solving bilateral
economic and trade disputes should be that both sides, while taking
into consideration the general situation and long-term interests,
should respect each other, conduct consultations on an equal
footing, enhance understanding and consensus through more dialogue
and exchanges, and seek more common ground while shelving trivial
differences.
Wen said China practiced a reciprocal opening up
strategy, which serves both its interests and the promotion of
common development. This was China's guideline in handling economic
and trade ties with other countries, he said.
He said China does not intentionally seek a trade
surplus, and that to balance its foreign trade and international
payments is one of its crucial macroeconomic goals.
(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2005)
