WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--China, responding to concerns raised by U.S.government officials, has offered assurances that its new agricultureimport regulations "will not interfere with trade in U.S. soybeans andother commodities," the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office ofthe U.S. Trade Representative said Thursday.Chief U.S. Agriculture Negotiator Allen Johnson said in a preparedstatement: "The assurances provided by the government of China todayshould help alleviate the concerns of farmers and exporters as theyprepare for the fall harvest and shipping season."Those assurances, delivered to the U.S. via Lan Lijun, China's actingambassador to the U.S., were presented Thursday to Johnson an USDA UnderSecretary J.B. Penn."Soybeans are America's largest export crop, and China is the largestsoybean export market," Penn said. "Continued access to the Chinese marketis a high priority for American agriculture, and this administration isworking to ensure that China continues to abide by its market accesscommitments."Despite China's assurances, Johnson and Penn said they will continueto request that China rescind a new rule it enacted that requires allcontracts for soybean imports and other products be subject to thequarantine entry process and include Chinese quarantine requirements as acontract term. The U.S. exported $2.9 billion worth of soybeans to Chinain 2003, according to the USDA.