MNI POLICY: China MOFCOM Confirms Jan U.S. Talks: Spox

     BEIJING (MNI) - China's Ministry of Commerce confirmed Thursday that China

and the U.S. will hold trade talks in January. MNI highlights major points from

Thursday's press briefing:

     -China and U.S. working teams are in close communication, and have

discussed negotiation topics and any related arrangements in detail, Gao Feng,

MOFCOM's spokesman said. "Both sides will at anytime arrange negotiation

activities, including meetings and talks, according to the need to advance

negotiations, and to facilitate the presidents' consensus from their (G20)

meeting," Gao stressed.

     -Chinese and U.S. officials discussed topics such as the trade balance and

intellectual property protection in their call on Wednesday, exchanging ideas on

arrangements for negotiations, Gao noted.

     -The spokesman stressed the bedrock of China-U.S. relations is still their

economic and trade cooperation, adding that bilateral trade and the economic

relationship benefits both sides and that would not change, possibly even even

strengthening when bilateral relations return to a normal track.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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