Premier Wen Jiabao will try to expand Chinese export markets in Southeast Asia and ease territorial disputes at a regional summit in Laos next week, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. China has a trade deficit with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations as its booming economy sucks up raw materials. But it hopes to see trade balance out as the region grows, said Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei. "For this temporary trade imbalance China has taken a very realistic stance," Wu said at a news briefing. "I think in the longer run, in our trading ties and economic cooperation we all will benefit." Wu said China hopes to sign an agreement with ASEAN next week to eliminate most tariffs by 2010, despite a lingering disagreement with Vietnam. He wouldn't elaborate but said the dispute was "minor" and that he expected it to be resolved before the scheduled signing. Wen will be in Laos from Sunday through Tuesday for a group summit between China and ASEAN as well as a three-way meeting between China, Japan and South Korea. China wants to set up a free trade area with ASEAN to tap a market of 530 million people and a combined economy of US$1 trillion (¤765 billion). China and other regional governments have a series of overlapping claims to the oil-and-gas-rich South China Sea, but Wu said China has no plans to raise territorial issues at the meetings. ASEAN is made up of Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
