China's Ministry of Commerce has expressed disappointment over recent comments from a top US trade official, that the 10-year-old Doha round of trade talks is deadlocked.

Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang says Doha's success would benefit most countries in the world, and if talks fail, global trade and free investment will be suffocated. He adds that it's unreasonable to force developing countries to bear responsibilities that exceed their own capabilities.

Shen Danyang pledged that as long as there's hope for the Doha round, the Chinese government will make every effort to help it succeed. The Doha round was launched in 2001 with the goal of helping poor countries prosper through trade... but members have disagreed over how much rich and developing countries should contribute.

Shen said, "For example, we have committed not to use subsidies for the export of farm produce. We have also promised to exempt 95 percent of tax items for the least developed countries, some developed countries can't even do this. Our per capita income is only one tenth of that of America, but some developed countries require China to bear almost the same responsibilities as the United States. It is clearly unreasonable."

Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang says Doha's success
would benefit most countries in the world, and if talks fail,
global trade and free investment will be suffocated.

Source:cntv