Exclusive | What killed US-China trade talks: A tale of two texts
- A difference of opinion over detail behind sudden shift from optimism to renewed hostilities
- Washington prefers to reveal what Beijing would conceal
The trade talks between China and the United States collapsed because Beijing removed details outlining the obligations it was required to meet as part of reaching a deal to end the trade war, according to a former senior US official.
Susan Thornton, former acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said both sides had agreed on a time frame to gradually implement changes as they worked towards a final settlement. The Americans, however, wanted to set benchmarks on specific issues so they could be certain of the progress being made towards reaching the finished deal.
“I heard there was a text the US side had given to the Chinese and it spelt out what the obligations would have been in certain areas … in the text they got back from China, all of these details were taken out,” she told the South China Morning Post.
Thornton said similar things had happened before in negotiations with China, as Beijing was particularly sensitive about details being made public which could affect perception of the agreement among its domestic audience.
“A lot of the time it has to do with sensitivity of having the document in the public domain. They do not want it to look like someone is dictating terms [to China],” she said.
