SHANGHAI (AP) - China expects some trade friction with the United States but views stable economic ties as crucial, a top Chinese trade negotiator said, as a trade mission signed more than two dozen contracts on products such as software, autos and soybeans.

Washington and Beijing should resolve disputes in a spirit of "objectivity, equality and consultation and avoid politicizing economic and trade issues,'' the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Vice Premier Wu Yi as saying at a signing ceremony in Los Angeles.

She said a mutually beneficial trade relationship is crucial for overall China-U.S. relations, though some friction is to be expected, Xinhua reported.

At the ceremony, businesses signed 27 deals worth some US$4.44 billion (euro3.6 billion), Xinhua reported.

Meanwhile, 13 Chinese soybean processing companies signed 10 contracts on Thursday in Chicago to buy a total 4.98 million metric tons of soybeans and 20,000 tons of U.S. soy oil in calendar year 2006, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Wu, China's former trade minister, is leading a delegation of 202 Chinese entrepreneurs that is to visit 13 states, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The mission presumably is seeking to smooth tensions ahead of a visit to Washington by Chinese President Hu Jintao in mid-April.

"They will sign many contracts and agreements with the U.S. companies and enterprises,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular briefing in Beijing on Thursday.

"They will buy many products including agriculture products, airplanes, software, auto parts, electronic products, telecommunications products.''

Qianlong.com, the official Web site of the Beijing city government, said China was expected to buy 80 Boeing planes following its purchase in November of 70 Boeings.

That deal was worth about US$4 billion (euro3.3 billion), although buyers typically get discounts on large orders.

The delegation includes representantives from many businesses who usually do not travel with senior Chinese leaders, the state-run newspaper China Daily reported, citing an unnamed Foreign Ministry official.

The mission hopes to establish long-term ties with companies in the American mid-West, to boost future imports and ensure the deals are not a "one-off'' event, the official was quoted as saying.

Hu's visit comes amid mounting pressure on U.S. President George W. Bush to take action on China's surging trade surplus with the United States, which reached a record US$202 billion (euro164 billion) last year.

Washington wants Beijing to loosen its currency controls and let the yuan trade freely on world markets, and also strengthen intellectual property rights protection and expand market access for U.S. products.

U.S. officials say the yuan is undervalued by up to 40 percent and gives an unfair advantage to Chinese manufacturers at the expense of American competitors.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, visiting Beijing last month, warned Chinese leaders that they could face growing protectionist sentiment in the United States if their country's trade surplus continues to grow.

In Washington, Wu is to co-chair a meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade with Gutierrez.

At a meeting last July of that panel, which includes top economic officials of both countries, China made a number of commitments aimed at boosting U.S. exports.