US President George W. Bush's visit to China was successful and the mutual interests between the two countries increased "a great deal" following the visit, said Mark Kirk (R-IL), co-chairman of the House US-China Working Group, in an interview with Xinhua on Tuesday.

Kirk said that many members of the Congress were very happy to hear the new commitment from China to protect intellectual property rights. "It is just important for China to protect intellectual property as the United States, because many new inventions are coming out of China," he said.

Moreover, Kirk said that the visit resulted in China's commitment to buy more US products, including 70 Boeing planes worth about US$5 billion and the US pledge to increase the number of US companies to do business with China. "We hope that effort could yield to a more balanced trade which will really reduce unnecessary conflicts between the two countries," he said.

According to Kirk, as senior US officials are making visits to China one after another this year, it reflects the growing importance of China to the whole international community as well as to the United States.

"I am happy that it seems the United States is paying more and more attention to China. I think it is very appropriate to have the president, the treasury secretary, the secretary of state, the secretary of defense all making regular visits to China," he said.

As to the differences between the two countries, Kirk said what is important is that the two sides are making efforts to address these differences. More importantly, both sides issued a joint commitment to resolve the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) through diplomacy as a peaceful DPRK conforms to the interests of both countries.

Moreover, the tension over Taiwan has been remarkably eased in the past six months, he said.

As President Bush has invited Chinese President Hu Jintao to visit the United States, Kirk said the US-China Working Group is working hard to make preparations for a successful Bush-Hu summit in Washington.

Kirk co-launched the US-China Working Group in June with Rick Larsen (D-WA) and has since been striving to strengthen US-China diplomatic relations and increase Congressional engagement with China on bilateral issues. 

(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2005)