South Carolina has a good business environment and has become one of the hotspots for Chinese investment in the United States, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi said on Sunday.

Economic and trade contacts and cooperation between the southeastern U.S. state and China have produced good results in recent years, with South Carolina's trade with China reaching 3.26 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, Wu said at a meeting with U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint, both from the state.

The vice premier said she was deeply impressed by the hospitality of the South Carolina people and the desire of the state's businesses to cooperate with China.

South Carolina has become a hotspot for Chinese investment. China's Hai'er Group established a home appliances production base in South Carolina in 1999, its first in North America, creating job opportunities and contributing to local economic development, she said.

To enhance Chinese companies' understanding of South Carolina's investment environment, Wu said, the China Chamber of Commerce in the USA would host a "China-South Carolina economic, trade and investment forum" with the state government.

Further expansion of economic and trade relations between China and the United States is conducive to promoting exchanges and cooperation in culture, science and technology, and tourism between the two countries, the vice premier noted.

It is natural that some friction and issues will occur in the rapid development of the China-U.S. economic and trade relations, and the two sides should solve these issues with the utmost sincerity and through equal consultations, she pointed out.

It will not work to try to solve these issues by exerting pressure on the other side, which would, instead, only generate negative results, she said.

The Chinese vice premier added that she would co-chair the 17th meeting of the Sino-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in Washington with U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Trade Representative Rob Portman.

At the meeting, they will exchange views on major issues surrounding economic and trade relations in a bid to enhance mutual trust on issues affecting bilateral trade, and to strive for consensus. This will create favorable conditions for the healthy and stable development of the China-U.S. economic and trade relationship.

For their part, Graham and DeMint said Wu's visit to the United States helped the exchange and understanding between the two countries, and the state of South Carolina had a strong interest in strengthening economic and trade cooperation with China.

They said South Carolina welcomed more Chinese companies to invest in the state, adding that an increase in Sino business activity would make the relationship between the two sides closer.

South Carolina and China have huge potentials for cooperation in education, health care, and science and technology, they said. Entrepreneurs and scholars from the two sides should strengthen exchanges and cooperation to play a positive role in building a long-term, favorable economic and trade relationship between China and the United States, they said.