SHANGHAI-- US companies deserve "fair access" to Chinese government contracts and transparent rules from the big Asian economy, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday, pressing for greater commercial access. Speaking in China's commercial epicentre, Shanghai, a day before the start of the high-level Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing, Clinton stressed the importance of U.S. economic concerns for relations with China. "In the coming days, officials at the highest levels of our two governments will be discussing issues of economic balance and competition," Clinton said in a speech given in a vast hangar at Shanghai airport, referring to the Beijing meeting. "Transparency in rule making and standard setting, non-discrimination, fair access to sales to private sector and government purchasers alike, the strong enforcement of intellectual property rights are all vitally important in the 21st century global economy," Clinton told the audience of U.S. and Chinese business executives. "American companies want to compete in China," she said, standing in front of a Boeing 737. "They want to sell goods made by American workers to Chinese consumers with rising income and increasing demand." Clinton's remarks underscored how large economic concerns will loom at the two-day S&ED meeting, jostling for attention with a range of other issues, including North Korea. The United States' annual trade gap with China fell to $226.8 billion in 2009, down from a record $268.0 billion in 2008. But the Obama administration is keen to lift exports and employment, and the deficit remains a point of friction with Beijing. The imbalance has fuelled accusations from the U.S. Congress and manufacturing sector that China is manipulating its currency for an unfair trade advantage by keeping the price of its yuan artificially low against the dollar. But U.S. and Chinese officials have stressed that the meeting in Beijing will not be dominated by the yuan. Instead, Clinton followed other U.S. officials who have sought to concentrate attention on policies that they claim may unfairly impede U.S. companies hunting for customers in China. U.S. officials say they are particularly worried about China's "indigenous innovation" programme to promote homegrown technology, which they say is creating barriers to foreign companies seeking to win government supply contracts for high-tech equipment, energy technology and other sophisticated products. China says its procurement rules do not unfairly discriminate against foreign companies, but also last month partly modified those rules after rising criticism from the United States and Europe. Clinton did not mention the yuan issue in her speech. Usually she leaves comment on that dispute to the U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who was in Beijing on Sunday ahead of the talks
