BEIJING, July 10 (Xinhuanet) -- China and the United States will begin their annual session of the Joint Committee on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) here Monday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce confirmed Sunday.

    Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi and US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and US Trade Representative Robert Portman will jointly chair the session, which is to focus on a number of hot trade issues ranging from textile disputes to intellectual property rights protection.

    Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai and US Secretary of Agriculture Michael Johanns will also participate in the one-day session.

    Trade between the two countries have surged rapidly over the past years. In 2004, two-way trade hit 169.6 billion US dollars, 69 times of the figure in 1979 when China and the United States established full diplomatic relations.

    The United States is now China's second largest trading partner after the European Union while China is the third largest trading partner of the United States.

    China replaced Germany last year as the fifth largest export market of the United States. Enditem