The United States has benefited greatly from China's rapid economic progress after its launch of market-oriented reforms and entry to the World Trade Organization, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said yesterday.

The top US trade envoy Susan Schwab, seen here, has said China should play a greater role in helping to revive stalled global trade talks and do better at opening up its own markets. [AFP]

The impact of China's decision to embrace reforms and join the structured international trading system was "nothing short of breathtaking," she told an event hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce.

Over the past 20 years, China's economy had grown by nearly 10 per cent a year, with some 377 million people lifted out of poverty.

"We are now, ourselves, major beneficiaries of China's rapid development. US manufacturers, farmers and service providers have seen exports to China grow an average of 22 per cent a year since China joined the WTO in December 2001, and US consumers enjoy access to a wide array of high-quality, competitively-priced products," said Schwab.

She said few trade relationships were more important than that between the US and China.

"And while we have issues that divide us in our bilateral trade relations, we still have fundamental interests in common," she said.

She also talked about the progress Washington and Beijing have made in resolving trading disputes and issues through "quiet" conversations.

China has announced that its computer manufacturers would install legal operating system software on all computers before they leave the factory, and committed to close optical disc plants that produce pirated CDs and DVDs.

"These and other initiatives show that as major trading partners in a mature relationship, the US and China can work together to resolve concerns and improve commercial ties."

Schwab also called on China to play a greater role to help revive stalled global trade talks held under the auspices of the World Trade Organization.

A successful Doha Round will "only be possible with vigorous and positive Chinese participation," she told reporters at the end of her first visit to China as trade representative.

The talks, which are supposed to dismantle global trade barriers in the agricultural and industrial sectors, were suspended indefinitely in July when the US and the EU failed to find a compromise on lowering farm subsidies and tariffs at last-ditch talks in Geneva.

Schwab described her meeting with Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai on Monday as "frank and positive."

"We agreed that we are experiencing an historic era in global commerce, and that China will be a key actor as this drama unfolds," she said.

Although agreeing on the need for the resumption of the Doha Round, China insists it is developed countries which should make more compromises and efforts to help developing economies.

Mei Xinyu, a trade researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Co-operation, attributed the collapse of the Doha Round to developed countries neglecting the interests of their developing counterparts.

Xinhua contributed to the story

(China Daily 08/30/2006 page1)