Monday, June 3, 2019

China Lets It Rip: U.S, ‘Solely to Blame’ for Collapse of Trade Talks

Wang Shouwen,
 China’s vice-minister for commerce
China has laid the blame squarely on the United States for the breakdown of trade talks between the two countries, but hinted at its willingness to resume stalled negotiations with Washington while rejecting any attempt to force concessions from Beijing, reports The South-China Morning Post.

And China is, of course, correct here. The erratic policy moves of President Trump with his infatuation with that old hag tariffs is to blame.


The Chinese seem particularly upset with the U.S. claim that Beijing attempted to make substantial cahnges in its trade demands at the last minute.

In a white paper on China’s official position on the trade talks released by the State Council Information Office on Sunday, Beijing made it clear the U.S. government “should bear the sole and entire responsibility” for the current stalemate, and hit back at allegations that Beijing had backtracked from its earlier promises.

On the specific allegation that China significantly changed the text under negotiation after the latest round of talks, the white paper said it was “common practice” to make new proposals and adjustments as the talks progressed, something the U.S. had done consistently.

“The more the U.S. government is offered, the more it wants,” the document said.

At a press conference in Beijing on Sunday, Wang Shouwen, China’s vice-minister for commerce, accused the U.S. of being “irresponsible” in accusing Beijing of backtracking on its promises.

“Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,” he said in English, the only time he strayed from his native tongue, according to SCMP.

Meanwhile, the white paper said that Beijing remained “committed to credible consultations based on equality and mutual benefit”, but would “not give ground on matters of principle”.

When asked what the U.S. side needed to do for the negotiations to continue, Wang referred to a preliminary agreement made by Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump in Argentina in December.

“The consensus then was to not raise tariffs, and work towards canceling them,” he said. The U.S. president has, of course, raised tariffs against Chinese goods since then.

This unpredictable bully style has made discussions much more difficult and there is now even the suggestion that President Xi will not meet with President Trulater this month in Japan at the G20 meetings, mp as originally planned.

According to CNBC, Wang would not confirm at the press conference whether Trump and Xi would meet at the G20 meeting. Wang said only that China will send representatives to those coming meetings in Japan.

-RW

1 comment:

  1. China is a paper tiger. The fact that they are crying means it could have a negative impact on their economy.

    ReplyDelete