China, US made ‘concrete progress’ towards trade war deal in Washington, Vice-Premier Liu He says
- Two sides built a strong foundation for signing of a phased agreement, top negotiator says in first public comments
- Beijing will continue to work with Washington on basis of ‘equality and mutual respect’, he says
In his first public comments about the talks in Washington which ended on October 11, Liu said the two sides had built an important foundation for the signing of a “phased deal”.
China would work with the US on the basis of “equality and mutual respect” to address each other’s core concerns, he said, adding that preventing an escalation of the trade war would be good for both nations and the world as a whole.
“The two sides have made substantial progress in many fields, laying an important foundation for the signing of a phased agreement,” he said at a virtual reality conference in Nanchang, in eastern China’s Jiangxi province.
“China will work with the United States on the basis of equal and mutual respect to address each other’s core concerns.”
Chinese state media were initially cautious after the talks, warning of uncertainties ahead but the media and officials later played up progress, saying both sides were working to resolve the trade war.
A commentary by Taoran Notes, affiliated with state-run Economic Daily, said Liu’s remarks suggested that a phased deal was in the works.
But Liu’s emphasis on equality and mutual respect indicated Beijing was aware of mounting calls in the US for a tougher approach to China to push the two nations to decouple and the trade war to continue, the commentary said.
“This point [about equality and mutual respect] is very important from now until the signing of a phased deal,” it said.
Despite Beijing and Washington both expressing optimism about prospects for negotiations, some elements of the deal, such as the enforcement mechanism, remain unclear.
China renews pledge to open markets, level playing field for foreign firms after US trade war deal progress
Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said that with the initial agreement the two countries were starting with “super light” issues to rebuild trust before moving to more profound conflicts.
Wuttke said China and the US were at odds in a range of areas, from technology to personal exchanges, and “trade seems to be the most minor of those conflicts”.
“[A technology war could] possibly be far more severe and far more sustainable, unfortunately,” he said.
“We have to see if they could hammer out a paper which has any sort of substance.”
Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said on Thursday that Chinese officials were working closely with their US counterparts on the text for the agreement and had already begun discussions on the second stage.
The further opening up of China’s financial services market would be an element of the first phase of the deal, while the issue of technology transfers would be addressed in the second, he said.
Trump’s “objective” was for an agreement to be signed during the Apec summit, he said.
Also on Saturday, Liu played down concerns over the recent volatility in China’s economy, saying it was “resilient” and that the government had ample policy tools to ensure it achieved its growth targets.
The economy was undergoing “profound structural adjustments and rebalancing” while moving away from a rapid growth model towards a more measured expansion, he said.
Despite those figures, Liu said China’s rapidly expanding middle class was becoming an important force in driving economic growth both at home and around the world.
