Differences and friction in trade, intellectual property right (IPR) protection as well as market access should not affect the sustained, healthy growth of US-China economic relations, said President Thomas Donohue of the US Chamber of Commerce Monday.

Donohue made the remark at the round-table meeting of Sino-US Business Dialogue, which was held by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and US Chamber of Commerce.

"Since the year 2000, US exports to China have doubled and China has become our fifth largest export market. Many US firms are reporting that their investments in China are profitable and enormously beneficial to their global competitiveness," he said.

"These facts must not be overlooked," he said. "Of course there have been bumps along the way, but that is normal among big trading partners."

Some problems including IPR protection and visa difficulty still exist in Sino-US economic exchanges, but they can be solved through dialogues between business circles, said CCPIT Vice President Zhang Wei.

Some Chinese entrepreneurs complained last year of difficulty in applying for US business visas, so the CCPIT and US Chamber of Commerce launched a joint investigation, said Zhang.

"We have noticed that the US embassy in China laxed its business visa restrictions recently, which was welcomed by Chinese companies," he said, hoping the US government will take further measures to effectively and fundamentally resolve the problem.

Vice President Pamela Passman of the US company, Microsoft, said that IPR protection has been a hot topic in US-Sino economic ties. Since piracy is rampant in the IT industry, the software industry pays more attention to IPR protection, she said.

The Chinese government has noticed the importance of IPR protection, so this problem should not be an obstacle in US-Sino economic relations, she said.

It is easy for Chinese consumers to name five US name brands, but it is difficult for American consumers to name five Chinese brands, said Vice President Thomas Gorrie of the US Johnson and Johnson company, whose products entered the Chinese market in 1985.

The US and Chinese companies need to cooperate in brand strategy, said Gorrie.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2005)