US Commerce Secretary William Daley believes it may be unrealistic to hope an agreement on the mainland's entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will be signed by Prime Minister Zhu Rongji in Washington in two weeks' time.
Mr Daley was speaking at a Beijing hotel on arrival from South Korea yesterday at the start of a four-day visit to the mainland as the head of a delegation of 18 senior US businessmen.
His visit comes in the middle of intense negotiations in Beijing between staff of the US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and the mainland's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations in an effort to reach an agreement which Mr Zhu can sign with President Bill Clinton when they meet in Washington on April 8.
'The talks are going well, they are going forward,' Mr Daley said. 'We are optimistic that progress has been made. But the issues are complicated and difficult. I do not know if an agreement is possible.
'The agreement must be on commercially meaningful terms. China will come into the WTO sooner or later, but it may be unrealistic to get it done by the summit.' Thanks to the offer of substantial concessions by Beijing in the past two weeks in telecommunications, banking and farm products, hopes have been rising that a deal was possible.
Mr Daley's comments appeared designed to cool those hopes.
He said he would discuss the WTO issue today with Mr Zhu and State Councillor Wu Yi.