China VP urges closer Sino-US business ties

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang on Friday pledged to improve the commercial environment and called for closer ties between Chinese and American business communities. "China will unswervingly push forward reform and opening up, establish a commercial environment which meets international standards and is ruled by law," Wang said during a meeting with a delegation of the US-China Business Council (USCBC). He asked the two countries' business communities to enhance cooperation amid emerging opportunities and to bolster bilateral economic and trade ties. The USCBC Annual Board delegation, headed by Ellen Kullman, CEO of the US company DuPont, is in Beijing to meet with senior government officials and Chinese business leaders to promote US-China trade and economic ties. China is roughly a 300 billion-dollar market for U.S. companies, according to a press release of the commercial association, which represents 220 U.S. companies doing business with China. The United States now ranks as China's second-largest trade partner following the European Union. In 2012, China-U.S. trade rose to 485 billion U.S. dollars, including 352 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese exports and 133 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese imports.