MOFCOM says steps needed on high-tech sales

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) called on the US to take substantive action to loosen restrictions on high-tech exports to China, according to a statement posted on the ministry's website Saturday, after US ambassador Gary Locke said in Shanghai last week the US is ready to release 46 high-tech items for exports to China.

China welcomed the US decision to allow some high-tech items to be exported to China, but China hasn't seen any concrete progress until now, according to the statement.

The country has provided a list of 141 high-tech items that it wants to purchase from the US, and "the US has indicated that 46 of these technologies can be readily exported to China, even some may not need a license," Gary Locke said last week at a forum hosted in Shanghai by the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

The US government is "in the midst of a major reform and simplification that will enable more high-tech goods to be exported to China," the ambassador said.

The US government has expressed a positive attitude toward the issue of high-tech exports to China in response to China's repeated requests, Li Jian, a research fellow at the Research Institute under the Ministry of Commerce, told the Global Times yesterday.

"But how far the US government can push forward the issue remains a question. We only can wait and see whether the US can take any concrete steps," Li said.

China's commerce minister Chen Deming urged the US to take some concrete actions to loosen restrictions on high-tech exports to China in a speech at the China Development Forum 2012 on March 18, just days before the ambassador's remarks in Shanghai.

The US restricts exports to China of 2,000 items for both military and civilian uses. The US is quite sensitive to the export of items related to military, as they think it can endanger their national security, experts said.

Besides, "access to high technology can help Chinese companies become more competitive globally and challenge the position of the US companies, something the US does not want to see," Li noted.

On the other hand, China can also purchase high-tech products from Europe or other countries. This creates concern among the US government that the extended export restrictions could hurt the US industry, Sun Zesheng, a professor with the School of Economics at Fudan University, told the Global Times yesterday.

The US also wants to increase exports in order to ease domestic employment pressure and to boost the economy, especially in the election year, Sun noted.

China recorded a trade deficit of $31.48 billion in February this year and the US became China's largest export market, as the monthly exports to the US exceeded that to the EU, the country's largest trade partner.

Chinese exports to the US market in February increased 12 percent year-on-year, while imports grew by just 3.1 percent.