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CHINA-US-POLITICS-ECONOMY-TRADE
China hopeful on US trade talks: official
BEIJING, March 9, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Beijing is hopeful about its next round
of trade talks with the US, China’s vice minister for commerce said Saturday,
after revealing that top negotiators had tried to hammer out a deal over
burgers and eggplant chicken.
China and the United States have been locked in a bruising trade war since
last year, imposing tit-for-tat tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way
trade, which has left global markets reeling.
Top-level negotiators have met thrice in an attempt to reach an agreement
ahead of next week, when additional tariffs could be levied on Chinese goods
entering the US as a truce period expires.
“When you ask about the prospects for the next Sino-US economic and trade
consultation, I feel that there is hope,” Vice Minister for Commerce Wang
Shouwen told journalists at a press briefing on the sidelines of China’s
National People’s Congress.
He added that Beijing’s top economic official Liu He and US Trade
Representative Robert Lighthizer held talks over a packed lunch of burgers
and eggplant stir-fried with chicken — a common Chinese dish — in
Washington last month.
“Vice Premier Liu ate a beef burger, and Lighthizer ate eggplant and
chicken (with rice),” Wang said.
“Throughout the consultation process, there was coffee and tea… but both
drank plain water.”
“This was to find common ground,” he added.
Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan had on Tuesday said the negotiation
process was very “difficult and taxing” with “lots left to do”, but that
breakthroughs had been made in several areas.
But there have been conflicting comments from Washington and Beijing on
the negotiations.
Donald Trump on Friday said he remains optimistic but will not sign a pact
unless it is a “very good deal”, and a top economic advisor said the US
president could walk away from a bad deal.
Commerce officials also said a foreign investment law — widely expected
to be passed by China’s rubber-stamp parliament next Friday — will allow
foreign companies to take part in government tenders.
Only 48 sectors remain on a “negative list” where foreign investment is
either prohibited or requires special approval, Wang told journalists.
“The (whole process) is open and provides important legal protection for
foreign investors.”
Aimed at assuaging concerns about China’s business environment for foreign
firms, Beijing sees the law as a tool to attract more foreign investment as
its economy slows.
The bill will ban the illegal transfer of technology and “illegal
government interference” in foreign businesses, a key complaint from
Washington.
BSS/AFP/HR/1305