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US senators: carry on relations
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THE United States should not allow the spy plane showdown with China to influence decisions on trade with Beijing or the sale of arms to Taiwan, several Senate Democrats and Republicans said yesterday.
"I'm not sure that it's in the best interests of this country to start cutting off trade relationship with China," Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel said on CBS' "Face the Nation".
"So I would right now vote to maintain favoured nation status."
Some lawmakers have backed a House of Representatives measure to revoke the decision by Congress seven months ago to grant permanent normal trade relations, or PNTR, to China.
Senator Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat, said on the Fox programme that the United States should not make the return of the plane a precondition for future talks.
America was China's second-biggest trading partner last year, with almost US$75 billion in bilateral trade.
Virginia Republican Senator George Allen said on NBC: "I think we still want to try to have fair trade with China."
Most senators interviewed on Sunday morning talk shows agreed the spy plane dispute had damaged Sino-US relations but not necessarily permanently.
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