The meeting of the US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) next week "provides an important opportunity to engage China on trade concerns impacting American companies," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said.

"It is critical that we make progress on several priority issues, including intellectual property rights protection and enforcement, clean energy, medical devices and pharmaceuticals," Locke said ahead of talks to be held in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou on October 28-29.

The United States views intellectual property as a "major priority" issue as "China continues to maintain very high piracy rates," a senior US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We are working carefully to figure out whether the most appropriate and best way of addressing that problem is through higher penalties on enforcement and further cracking down on separate IP issues as well," the official said.

Piracy of copyrighted US movies, music, video games and other entertainment has reached "alarming levels" in China, a congressional watchdog warned earlier this year.

Pirated copies of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system were reportedly sold for as little as three dollars -- or about one percent of the real cost -- in China last week even before its official launch, reports have said.

The US side will be represented at the JCCT talks by Locke, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack while Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan will lead his team, officials said.

The 2009 meeting marks the first time three Obama cabinet officials have traveled together to a key economic summit abroad, they said.

Noting that China was America's second largest trading partner and a fast growing market for US exporters, Kirk said both sides should identify steps to ensure that they had "fair, sustainable, and mutually beneficial" ties.

Vilsack said American farmers and ranchers recognized the benefits of engagement with Beijing, "but they also rightly seek great equity and balance in our trade relationship."

Two-way trade in agricultural, fish and forest products was more than 21 billion dollars in 2008.

The JCCT, a high-level government-to-government forum for addressing trade and investment issues, has more than a dozen working groups and sub-groups that meet throughout the year. The last session was held Yorba Linda, California last year.

Trade tensions between the powers have intensified in recent months, with both sides taking action against the other's imports.

Obama, due to make his first presidential visit to China on November 15-18, ignited the first major trade spat of his presidency last month after he imposed punitive duties on Chinese-made tires.

An angry Beijing lodged a complaint at the World Trade Organization and retaliated by launching a probe into possible unfair trade practices involving imports of US car products and chicken meat.

Beijing charged that Washington's move violated WTO rules but Obama has denied that it amounted to protectionism.

Last week, the United States launched a probe on whether to slap almost 100 percent tariffs on steel pipes imported from China.

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