US President George W. Bush met with visiting Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi at the White House on Wednesday and reiterated that the United States sticks to the one-China policy.  

Bush told Wu that there is no change in the position he stated about the Taiwan issue when he met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in the Oval Office of the White House on Dec. 9 last year.

"We oppose any unilateral decision by either China or Taiwan to change the status quo, and the comments and actions made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may be willing to make decisions unilaterally to change the status quo, which we oppose," Bush said at a joint appearance with Wen at that time.

In his meeting with Vice Premier Wu, President Bush also said he was pleased with the positive outcome of the 15th session of the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), a bilateral consultation mechanism set up in 1983 to deal with trade and commerce issues between the two countries.

Bush said the US side fully recognizes the importance of economic and trade cooperation to the relationship between the two countries, and hopes to further expand trade with China and bring more benefits to the two peoples through continuous development of bilateral economic and trade relations.

Wu, who co-chaired the one-day JCCT meeting on Wednesday with US Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans and Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, said the Chinese side was pleased with the progress made in Sino-US relations in recent years.

She urged the US side to exercise prudence in handling the Taiwan issue and abide by its commitments in the three joint communiqués to ensure steady progress in the Sino-US relationship.

Speaking of bilateral trade, Wu said China, the biggest developing country in the world, and the United States, the biggest developed country, have a great potential in economic and trade cooperation.

Both sides should always treat their relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective and in the spirit of mutual respect and seeking common ground while reserving difference, she said.

The two sides should also address each other's concerns and broaden common interests through more exchanges and cooperation, Wu added.

The Chinese vice premier expressed the hope that the United States will recognize China's market economy status at an early date and lift its export restrictions on high-tech products to facilitate development of economic and trade relations between the two countries.

The success of the just-ended JCCT consultation is the result of common efforts, she said. It is another testimony that China and the United States could settle their economic and trade issues properly and further advance their cooperation if both sides show mutual understanding and compromises, Wu added.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2004)