Both Sides Report Progress in U.S.-China Trade Negotiations

No fewer than eight U.S.-China working groups were immersed in last-ditch bargaining Thursday, seeking to further what both sides described as progress toward averting a trade war over copyright piracy.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Chen Jian sounded a positive note on prospects for striking a deal before Sunday, when about $2 billion in bruising mutual trade sanctions are to take effect.

“We are glad to note that headway has been made in the current talks on intellectual property rights,” Chen said at his ministry’s briefing.

“Negotiators for both sides have acknowledged that the negotiations have produced progress,” he said. He called on the parties to maintain the momentum.

Across town at the Great Hall of the People, U.S. Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary oversaw the signing of seven U.S.-Sino cooperation agreements for development of clean energy systems.

O’Leary, who also met with Premier Li Peng and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, said the signing “gives testimony to our desire to continue an enduring relationship.”

U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, whose arrival in Beijing on Tuesday raised the stakes in the intellectual property talks, told reporters before Thursday’s meetings that work was getting done.

“I won’t discuss the issues we are addressing except to say that thus far, our meetings have been quite businesslike, very frank, and we are making some small progress,” she said.

A Chinese negotiator said Wednesday that satisfactory progress had been made, the New China News Agency reported.

U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, in a statement from the U.S. Embassy, said that “eight separate working groups” would meet all day Thursday, and then all would meet together “to report on progress made.”

Kantor said the ticklish issue of access to China’s markets was the first of eight raised by Barshefsky in talks with Deputy Foreign Trade Minister Sun Zhenyu.

Analysts say market access is what China had in mind when, on the eve of the latest talks, it urged the United States to abandon its “irrational demands” unrelated to the dispute over intellectual property protection.

Hollywood and recording companies say daunting political and economic barriers to China’s entertainment market encourage piracy, as bootleggers step in to meet demand for foreign movies, compact discs and tapes unavailable from the legal producers.