In a recent interview with a group of Chinese reporters at the headquarters of Amway Corp. in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Van Andel said that China's entry into WTO is not only extremely important to the trade relations between the US and China, but also "extremely important" to the trade around the world.

As China is the enormous potential market in the world, China will play an critical role in the world trade body, stressed Van Andel, who is also the president of Amway Corp.

As the US is the biggest market and China is the biggest potential market in the world, the development of trade relations between the two countries is critical to the development of world trade in the future, he said.

Van Andel is one of the major figures in lobbying the US Congress to grant China unconditionally the Permanent Normal Trade Relations(PNTR) status.

He said that through frequent high-level visits, leaders of the two countries will surely deepen their mutual understandings, broaden their common knowledge and bring the US-China relations onto a new stage.

"American businessmen are looking forward to Vice President Hu Jintao's upcoming visit to the US and we wish him a very successful visit," he said.

On the trade dispute between the two sides, Van Andel said that it is quite normal for the two countries to have some disputes. But he stressed that the resolving of any disagreement should be based on mutual understanding and communication between the two sides.

It will not benefit an appropriate settlement if the two sides hurriedly turn to the dispute-resolving mechanism of WTO, he said.

Amway Corp. is one of the largest direct-selling companies in the world and initiated its operation in China in 1995. It has so far invested more than 100 million US dollars in China, making it one of largest investors in China.

(People's Daily April 19, 2002)