Beijing, Washington in talks to stabilize economic ties

The latest meeting in Beijing between high-ranking Chinese and United States officials indicated that the two countries are making continuing joint efforts to stabilize bilateral economic and trade ties through a pragmatic approach and candid communication, experts said on Tuesday.

This has sent positive signals to market watchers, said the experts, who also expected the two countries to deepen cooperation in areas including macroeconomic policy coordination and multilateral governance, in order to benefit world economic growth.

Their remarks came as China and the US convened the third meeting of the China-US economic working group in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday, marking a significant step in ongoing efforts to address economic concerns and foster constructive dialogue between the two nations.

At the same time, Vice-Premier He Lifeng, who is China’s lead person for China-US economic and trade affairs, met on Tuesday with a delegation led by Jay Shambaugh, undersecretary for international affairs at the US Department of the Treasury, who was in Beijing for the meeting of the economic working group.

During the meeting, the vice-premier emphasized the need for both sides to leverage the channels provided by the China-US economic working group to deepen exchanges, build consensus and foster stable economic relations, with the goal of ensuring mutual benefits for the businesses and people of both nations.

“The meeting and the smooth running of the China-US economic working group mechanism established last year showed that the two countries have both realized the importance of maintaining communication and deepening cooperation,” said Lu Feng, a professor of economics at Peking University’s National School of Development.

“Both sides have expressed their concerns while seeking cooperation and improvement to bilateral

economic and trade relations during recent talks, which at least will reduce misunderstanding or wrongful judgment,” Lu said.

Cui Fan, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said that better Sino-US trade and economic relations will be beneficial for both countries as well as the world.

The two countries are expected to strengthen communication to better deal with challenges and pressures facing the whole world, such as climate change and the debt risk of some developing countries, Cui said. The two countries can also work together more on taxation in the digital economy under the framework of the G20, Cui added.

Lu said the academic community hopes that the world’s two largest economies will strengthen communication on economic situations and expand cooperation on macroeconomic policy coordination, in order to bring more positive factors to the global economy.

In addition, he said he believes that the two countries can work more closely together on multilateral governance in areas such as climate change response, debt issues of some developing countries and multilateral financial institutions.

Furthermore, China is capable of playing a bigger role in international financial institutions, Lu added.