U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow, left, shakes hands with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during their meeting in Beijing Monday, Oct. 17, 2005. [AP]

 BEIJING, Oct. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Monday that Sino-US economic and trade ties are generally good and existing issues can be settled.

    Wen made the remarks at a meeting with visiting US Treasury Secretary John Snow who started a China tour last Tuesday.

    Wen said the right principles for solving bilateral economic and trade disputes should be that the two sides, while taking into consideration the general situation and long-term interests, should respect each other, conduct consultations on an equal footing, enhance understandings and consensus through more dialogues and exchanges, and seek more common ground while shelving trivial differences.

    The two sides should also, in the name of mutual benefit, take into account the concerns of each other and make joint efforts by conducting cooperation and taking measures to ease the disputes soas to ensure the steady and sound growth of bilateral economic and trade ties and bring more concrete benefits to the people of the two nations, said Wen.

    While briefing US visitors on China's economic development, Wen said China's enormous domestic market promotes its economic growth by relying mainly on domestic demand.

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    Meanwhile, said Wen, China adheres to its opening-up policy, and will continue economic and technological exchanges and cooperation with overseas partners, exploring overseas demand and seeking a better combination of expanding domestic demands and making rational use of overseas demand so as to promote the country's steady and rapid economic growth.

    Wen said China practices a reciprocal and win-win opening-up strategy, which serves both China's interests and the promotion of common development. This is China's guideline in handling economicand trade ties with other countries, said the premier.

    Moreover, he said China, a big exporter and importer, does not seek a trade surplus intentionally. To balance its foreign trade and international payments is one of China's crucial goals in its macro-control policy, the Chinese premier said. Enditem