China has drafted a plan to buy US.5 billion (euro9.4 billion) worth of U.S. goods including electronics and soybeans, a news report said Monday, in a possible effort to ease tensions ahead of a high-level meeting on trade disputes.

The purchases would be made in May, Dow Jones Newswires said, citing an unidentified person familiar with the plan. That would coincide with the next round of a U.S.-Chinese dialogue on economic disputes due to be held in Washington.

Tensions flared Friday when the United States announced duties on Chinese paper imports, accusing Beijing of improperly subsidizing its producers. China criticized the tariffs and demanded that Washington reverse the decision.

The economic dialogue is led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi. Paulson has warned that it must produce short-term results to mollify American critics of Beijing's ballooning trade surplus, which last year soared to a record US2.5 billion with the U.S.

Under the proposed plan, China would buy US billion (euro7.5 billion) worth of mechanical and electronic goods, US billion (euro1.5 billion) worth of soybeans and US0 million (euro375 million) worth of cotton, Dow Jones reported.

Phil Laney, the China country director for the American Soybean Association, said he expects Chinese purchases ahead of the May meeting but could not confirm the reported plan.

"We think it's true, but I couldn't tell you details," he said.

Spokespeople for China's Commerce Ministry and cabinet news office did not immediately respond to requests by phone and fax for comment.

Last year, China announced deals to buy US.2 billion worth of Boeing jetliners, soybeans and other U.S. goods in an apparent effort to ease trade tensions before President Hu Jintao visited the United States.

Laney said delegations from China's machinery, cotton and poultry industries were expected to travel with Wu to Washington.

Soybeans are the biggest single U.S. farm export to China, which has bought about 11 million tons worth US billion (euro1.5 billion) since the current market year began in September, Laney said. The beans are crushed for oil and used as animal feed.

"The Chinese government understands that soybean exports from the U.S. are very important to us," he said.

The U.S. measures announced Friday would impose preliminary tariffs of 10.9 percent to 20.4 percent on imports of Chinese sheet paper.

China criticized the decision as a violation of a pledge by American and Chinese leaders to settle disputes through dialogue.

"China strongly urges the U.S. to reconsider the decision and to correct it as soon as possible," Commerce Ministry spokesman Wang Xinpei said Saturday.

Other disputes include U.S. complaints about Beijing's currency controls and failure to stop piracy of copyrights and other intellectual property. U.S. officials say China's efforts to promote its own industrial standards for goods such as mobile phones could put foreign competitors at a disadvantage.

Critics say China's currency, the yuan, is kept undervalued, giving Chinese exporters an unfair price advantage. Beijing has let the yuan rise by 4.6 percent against the dollar since a revaluation in July 2005, but Washington wants faster action.

A pair of U.S. lawmakers said last week they were preparing legislation to force Beijing to ease currency controls, though they gave no details of how it would work.