China rebuts US Vice President’s ‘wrong’ claims about trade

China on Wednesday offered a direct, sharp rebuttal to various claims made by US Vice President Mike Pence regarding China’s trade practices, calling out Pence for his wrong accusations, urging him to read a history book on China’s technological development.

Asked to comment on the US vice president’s claims, Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called Pence “wrong” four times and provided examples to refute his accusations.

In a speech at the US Department of Commerce on Monday, Pence claimed that China’s average tariffs on US goods are three times higher than US tariffs on Chinese goods, across every industry, according to transcript of his speech on the White House website.

“Wrong!” Hua told a press briefing, adding that the US charges a 25 percent on imported trucks, while China only charged 10 percent on auto imports, which has recently been cut to 6 percent.

On Pence’s comment that If China “refuses” to level the playing field and continues to retaliate against the US, “their leaders should know: America will not back down,” Hua also called this wrong.

“China has always been promoting fair trade,” she said, noting that the US should not judge fairness with its own set of standards. “China is opening its door and the US is closing. Who is right and who is wrong should be very clear.”

About the US not backing down if China retaliates, Hua said the correct statement should be “If the US continues to act in an arbitrary and reckless manner, every country in the world will retaliate more firmly and powerfully.”

“China’s achievements in innovation were not made by stealing or rubbing, instead they were made using 1.3 billion Chinese people’s wisdom and sweat,” she said.