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Facing US trade uncertainty, China seeks closer ties with neighbours
CHENGDU, China, Dec 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – China made overtures on trade to
Japan and South Korea and offered support for an infrastructure initiative as
it hosted the leaders of its two neighbours this week amid strained ties with
the US.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday at a meeting with Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe that Beijing was willing to strengthen economic
cooperation with Japan in third-country markets.
At the meeting on the sidelines of a trilateral summit in the southwestern
city of Chengdu, Li added that China would “further open up its services
industry” to Japan.
During a separate meeting on Monday with South Korean President Moon Jae-
in, Li said China was willing to work on a rail network linking Korea with
China and Europe, Yonhap news agency reported.
Li’s remarks come as China and the United States edge closer to an initial
trade agreement after imposing tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods
over nearly two years in a bruising trade war that has hit the global
economy.
On Friday US President Donald Trump touted a “very good talk” he had held
with China’s President Xi Jinping on a deal to resolve the dispute.
However details of the so-called “phase one” deal between the world’s two
largest economies have yet to be published in writing, with officials citing
incomplete translation and legal work.
Meanwhile relations between the pair have been further strained by US
legislators’ support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, and their
condemnation of the mass internment of Muslim minorities in the western
Chinese region of Xinjiang.
– Free-trade deal –
Li stressed on Wednesday the importance of China’s trade ties with Japan
and South Korea, saying their vast volume of trade was due to the “joint
protection of regional stability and peace”.
China, Japan and South Korea held a summit on Tuesday that also touched on
a planned free-trade agreement between the three nations, which has been many
years in the making.
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Trade among the trio was worth more than $720 billion in 2018, according
to a joint statement issued Tuesday night by the leaders.
The countries will “speed up the negotiations” on the agreement and
“strive to realize a free, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, predictable
and stable trade and investment environment”, the statement said.
The leaders plan for the new trilateral free-trade agreement (FTA) to
build on a separate, sprawling China-backed Asian trade pact, which if signed
would be the world’s biggest trade deal.
That pact, called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP),
was meant to account for 30 percent of global GDP and loop in half of the
world’s people.
But India rejected the RCEP deal at a summit in November, dealing it a
major blow.
The remaining members of RCEP, which include all 10 ASEAN states plus
China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, are aiming to sign it
next year after reviewing an agreed draft text.
“Negotiations on the trilateral FTA will become more active as soon as
they are able to conclude the negotiation on RCEP,” Japanese foreign ministry
spokesperson Masato Otaka said Tuesday.
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