Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan called here Thursday for the Sino-US trade friction to be resolved appropriately through consultation.

Stable and healthy Sino-US economic and trade ties benefit both nations and problems and friction should be handled appropriately through consultation in order to advance the bilateral trade relations in a healthy direction, Kong said.

Spokesman Kong made these remarks when asked to comment on the recent criticism from the US side on China's trade policy.

Relevant statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and other relevant departments showed that the United States is China's second largest trade partner whereas China is the US' fourth largest trade partner, said Kong, which indicates the importance of trade relations to bilateral ties.

He noted that the China-US trade volume grew rapidly over recent years and US direct investments in China also kept increasing.

"China's vast market provides tremendous business opportunities for the US enterprises," he acknowledged.

Kong said statistics showed that Sino-US trade has created several hundreds of thousands of job opportunities for the U.S. and contributing to some extent in keeping the US currency stable,in prompting the US economy to grow and in improving the American people's living standards.

"It's fair to say that Sino-US economic and trade ties are mutually beneficial," the spokesman said.

China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) has undoubtedly opened the Chinese market further, which will in turn deepen Sino-US cooperation in economy and trade, he said.

Moreover, Kong said, the Chinese side insists that China and the United States should hold consultations to improve mutual understanding, remove non-economic interference and resolve the economic and trade problems and friction with an equal, positive and pragmatic attitude, he added.

"Only that way can Sino-US relations advance steadily and healthily," he said.

Recently there were some reports saying that China failed to give appropriate protection to intellectual property rights.

As a matter of fact, the Chinese government has never slackenedits efforts to improve protection in this regard and has heightened penalties of piracy through legislative and administrative means, said Kong.

Encouraging invention, innovation and strengthening protection of intellectual property rights is good to economic growth and also accords with China's fundamental interests, he said.

The Chinese government at all levels will strictly following the law to punish piracies upon discovery and the international community should not doubt China's efforts and resolution in protecting intellectual property rights, the spokesman said.

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