China expects some trade friction with the US but views stable economic ties as crucial, a top Chinese trade negotiator said, as a trade mission signed US$4.4 billion worth of contracts for US-made software, autos and soybeans.
In a spate of "checkbook diplomacy" aimed at smoothing tensions ahead of a mid-April visit to Washington by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), the buying mission expects to clinch contracts totaling US$15 billion, state media said, citing a statement from China's consulate in Los Angeles.
Washington and Beijing should resolve disputes in a spirit of "objectivity, equality and consultation and avoid politicizing economic and trade issues," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Vice Premier Wu Yi (吳儀) as saying at a signing ceremony in Los Angeles on Thursday.
During the signing ceremony, businesses signed 27 deals worth some US$4.44 billion, Xinhua reported.
They included purchases of US$700 million worth of Microsoft Windows software by major Chinese computer makers such as Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想), Founder Group (方正) and Tsinghua Tongfang Computer Company (清華同方), the official newspaper Shanghai Daily reported.
Together, the three computer companies hold about half of the Chinese market for personal computers.
The deal follows a pledge by Beijing to ensure computers sold in China have only legal, licensed software, instead of the counterfeit programs widely used now.
Meanwhile, 13 Chinese soybean processing companies signed 10 contracts on Thursday in Chicago to buy a total of 4.98 million tonnes of soybeans and 20,000 tonnes of US soy oil this year, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Wu, China's former trade minister, is leading a delegation of 202 Chinese entrepreneurs that is to visit 13 states, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Qianlong.com, the official Web site of the Beijing city government, said China was expected to buy 80 Boeing planes following its purchase in November of 70 Boeings. That deal was worth about US$4 billion, although buyers typically get discounts on large orders.
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