It was rare over past several years that so many big deals were signed between Chinese and American firms on a single day, ranging from telecommunications, energy to chemical industry.

Such an event, on the eve of Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to the United States, was a symbol that Sino-US trade and economic cooperation were on a stable track.

China and the United States gained momentum last year, as President Jiang Zemin and President George W. Bush met for three times. Good political relations fanned smooth trade growth and economic relations, although there were some disputes.

Two-way trade volume hit US$87.97 billion from January to November last year, up 19.6 percent. Trade analysts predict that the trade volume may top US$92 billion in 2002, making the United States the second largest trading partner of China for the 4th consecutive year after Japan.

Economic cooperation expanded to more areas and became diversified. American investment in China surged both in the number of projects and sum of money.

From January to November, a total of 3,042 US-funded firms were established in China, up 30 percent from the same period of the previous year. Contractual investment from the United States reached 7.859 billion US dollars, accounting for more than 10 percent of all the contractual overseas investment China received.

Materialized American investment in the period gained 15.5 percent to 4.86 billion US dollars. The United States remained the largest source country of overseas investment in China.

Currently, Chinese and American firms have cooperated in a dozen areas ranging from mechanics, metallurgy, electronics, telecommunications, agriculture, medicine, environmental protection, finance and insurance. More than 300 out of the top 500 American firms have invested in China, and have reaped profits, according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of China.

"The United States is the biggest developed country and has huge capital and advanced technology," said Zeng Peiyan, minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission of China. "On the other hand, China is the biggest developing country with huge market potential and rich labor resources."

"A better economic and technological cooperation between our two sides would serve the common interest of our two peoples and contribute to world peace and prosperity," Zeng said.

Steve Van Andel, chairman of the executive committee of the American Chamber of Commerce, said a healthy development of America-China relations will offer great potential for two-way trade and economic cooperation.

The Sino-US relations are expected to remain stable for the coming year, analysts said. Trade and economic cooperation between the two countries may grow to an even higher level in the year of 2003.

(Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2003)