US President George W. Bush urged China yesterday to live up to its pledges as a new member of the WTO and promote free trade.
US officials say China is throwing up barriers to American farm products with proposed rules on bio-engineered foods and is also lagging in enforcing some WTO pledges, including protection of intellectual property rights.
"China, as a full member of the WTO, will now be a full partner in the global trading system and will have the right and responsibility to fashion and enforce the rules of open trade," Bush told a news conference after talks with Chinese President Jiang Zemin
China formally joined the global trade body in December, ending a 15-year quest.
The US is already China's second largest trading partner after Japan while China ranks fourth for the US. Bilateral trade was more than US$80 billion last year.
Bush, who arrived in Beijing yesterday for a two-day visit, said the US should reach out to China through trade.
"It is in our nation's interest that we trade with China. It is in our nation's interest that China adhere to the rules of the World Trade Organization," he said while viewing an engine made by US firm Cummins Inc, which powers buses in Beijing.
In his meeting with Jiang, Bush raised the issue of China's planned rules on bio-engineered foods, which threaten US$1.0 billion in US soybean sales annually, but the matter was still unresolved, a US official said.
"To my knowledge, this is still an issue that has to be resolved," National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice told reporters.
The US says the rules, which go into effect on March 20, lack scientific evidence and involve a complicated certification procedure which is effectively a trade barrier.
Helped by WTO entry, China is on the way to becoming the world's second biggest economy after the US, analysts say.
But the world should not fear the rise of the economic giant, Jiang told the news conference.
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