China has agreed in principle to join the U.S. Container Security Initiative, in which the United States is working to station its Customs Service inspectors at non-U.S. seaports, U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner said Friday (see GSN, Sept. 30).

“I am very pleased that the Chinese government has agreed in principle to join with the United States in the Container Security Initiative,” Bonner said in a press statement.  “This is an important step, not only for the protection of trade between the U.S. and China, but for the protection of the most critical component of the world trading system as a whole — containerized cargo.”

U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin announced China’s decision during their meeting Friday in Crawford, Texas, according to a Customs press release.  U.S. officials have already made arrangements to station inspectors at ports in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada (U.S. Customs Service release, Sept. 25).

For further information, see:

Fact sheet on U.S. Container Security Initiative

U.S. Customs Container Security Initiative Information

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