China called the U.S. government to remove such berriers as high-tech export limitation and enhance the competitive edge of U.S firms in China so as to find a solution to the deficit problem in Sino-U.S. trade.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao made the remarks in Beijing on June 16 in the routine press briefing.

"The deficits between the two countries are not as big as what the U.S. side calculated," he said, adding that experts in the two countries are working to find out a more acceptable statistical method.

China places importance to Sino-U.S. trade ties and encourages Chinese enterprises to increase import from the U.S., according to Zhu.

Meanwhile, he urged the U.S. side to remove its barriers, such as trade sanctions against China and high-tech export limitations. "American financial institutions should grant more favorable credit terms for U.S. firms in China so as to hone their competitive edge," he added.

Zhu indicated that the sustained development of Sino-U.S. trade has played a positive role for the economic growth of the two countries. For the U.S. side alone, the export to China created more than 300,000 job opportunities while the bilateral trade generated more than one million jobs for the American industrial and service sectors.

The export volume from the U.S. to China witnessed remarkable growth over the past two decades from 1.86 billion U.S. dollars in 1979 to 16.3 billion dollars in 1997, according to Zhu.

Also, the U.S. consumers gained benefits from the low-priced China-made commodities, which are also beneficial to ensuring a low inflation rate in the United State, Zhu said.

"It is with great potential for the two countries to further the economic and trade ties, which are beneficial to the two countries," he pointed out.