Bush will press China on US soybean sales

Lead: Beijing, Feb 21 (Reuters) - President George W Bush will refer to China's planned genetically modified regulations in his meeting with Chinese leaders, a White House spokesman said on Thursday, as they pose a threat to U.S soybean sales worth $1 billion a year to China A White House spokesman told a delegation accompanying Mr Bush that Mr Bush's arrival in Beijing on Thursday will put pressure on China to abide by the commitments made as a new WTO member in terms of market opening The U.S said China's new genetically modified regulations, which are due to take effect on March 20, will harm the sale of U.S agricultural products The regulations deal with complex procedures for applying for certificates, which Washington calls barriers to trade On Thursday and Friday, Bush will hold talks with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji, respectively U.S officials say Bush is likely to mention it Friday at breakfast with Premier Zhu The U.S agricultural industry wants China to be lenient or flexible in its implementation of genetically modified regulations For China, the United States is the second largest trading partner after Japan, and China is the fourth largest partner of the United States The bilateral trade volume between the two countries exceeded 80 billion US dollars last year (author:) share to feed Weibo share to: