Sino-US business ties still 'positive'

Despite trade disputes between China and the United States, the "positive" bilateral economic relationship provides ample opportunities for mutual investment, the chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce said on Wednesday.

"If you look at the amount of investment that goes both ways in our two markets, it's never been larger. So the current economic relationship is very positive," said Steve Van Andel, chairman of the board of the chamber as well as of global retailer Amway Corp.

Van Andel, who was visiting Guangzhou, commented shortly after the US announced it would impose more punitive duties on Chinese photovoltaic products.

"I think there are always disagreements that happen in every relationship. Both countries will finally work out measures to resolve the dispute," he said.

The US Department of Commerce on Tuesday set fresh tariffs on imported PV products from China, signaling that it may impose punitive duties on the imported products.

On the Chinese side, Beijing reportedly plans to remove servers sold by IBM Corp from the banking industry and ban business cooperation between US consultancies and China's State-owned enterprises due to spying concerns.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Commerce said on its website that China is "strongly dissatisfied" with the latest US move regarding the solar industry, saying it would worsen the trade dispute between the two economies.

"The economic relationship between China and the US has entered a very positive period, although there have been some trade disputes arising recently between the two countries," Van Andel said.

He noted that China's foreign direct investment into the US recently surpassed the amount of FDI that the US had sent into China.

FDI figures from both sides are growing, he said. "So the economic relationship between the two countries is very positive."

According to New York-based consulting company Rhodium Group LLC, China's investment into the US doubled to $14 billion in 2013. As much as 70 percent of that came from private-sector companies.

During a meeting with Guangdong Party chief Hu Chunhua on Tuesday, Van Andel said the US Chamber of Commerce would help introduce more investment from the US to Guangdong, where Amway established manufacturing facilities 22 years ago.

US companies' investment in Guangdong has so far totaled some $8 billion, and there are still plenty of business and investment opportunities on both sides, according to Hu.

According to Van Andel, a growing number of consumer-oriented businesses from the US will explore investment opportunities in China as the world's second-largest economy depends more on consumer-oriented activity for overall economic growth.

Van Andel said the Chinese economy is still expanding, although its growth pace has declined a little in recent years.