A taste of sweeter economic Sino-US ties emerged today after a senior Washington official said sour diplomatic relations with Beijing would not derail China's entry to the World Trade Organisation.
"The main question of accession into the WTO is something that is an important issue for bothof us in terms of our economic interests," Mr Larry Greenwood, head of a US delegation to a meeting of senior Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) officials, said.
A series of damaging diplomatic spats have heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing, the most serious the collision of a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter in April.
Mr Greenwood, helping draft an agenda for talks between trade ministers of the 21 economy APEC grouping in Shanghai next week, reiterated President George W Bush's support for Beijing's entry to the WTO after 14 years of trying.
"We certainly want to be as helpful as we can be in terms of helping China become a very active participant in the global trading system," he said.
Mr Greenwood's words echoed a statement from Washington yesterday from new US Trade Representative Mr Robert Zoellick, who is set to meet with China's trade minister Mr Shi Guangsheng for the first time next week at the Shanghai talks.
The two trade chiefs will discuss China's WTO bid, raising hopes they can iron out differences over Beijing's agricultural subsidies, the main barrier preventing China's WTO entry. Multilateral talks have been delayed for months.
The bilateral meeting follows Mr Bush's decision yesterday to extend normal trade relations to China for another year, setting the stage for a vote in Congress on the issue this summer.