U.S. official tells China to expect more WTO cases

BEIJING, Mar 3: China can expect its trading partners to lodge more complaints with the World Trade Organisation aimed at getting Beijing to enforce global trade rules, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

James Mendenhall, general counsel for the U.S. Trade Representative's office, told a business gathering that Washington was determined that China should be a ''responsible stakeholder'' in the global trading system.

Mendenhall also said that China was still not doing enough to protect intellectual property rights and that Washington would keep pressing for more effective measures.

Mendenhall is in Beijing for talks with Chinese officials on a number of trade issues, including Chinese barriers to imports of foreign auto parts.

He said China had agreed to study the grieveances that the U.S. delegation had laid out on the question of car parts and he hoped the ''right result'' would be forthcoming.

Before leaving Washington, Mendenhall said the United States was seriously considering bringing a case before the WTO on China's rules on auto part imports, and that it was working closely with the European Union on the issue.

The threats of action in the WTO follow demands in Congress that the Bush administration enforce trade rules more vigorously. The USTR has responded by promising to establish a task force to monitor and enforce China's adherence to trade rules.

REUTERS