CHINA DOWNPLAYS CHANCES FOR RESUMING TRADE TALKS

Meaningless to meet unless US shows sincerity, says Taoran Notes commentary

CHINA’S state media signalled a lack of interest in resuming trade talks with the United States under the current threat to escalate tariffs, while the government said stimulus will be stepped up to buttress the domestic economy.

Without new moves that showed the US was sincere, it was meaningless for its officials to come to China and have trade talks, according to a commentary by the blog Taoran Notes, which was carried by Xinhua news agency

and the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece.

The indications that negotiations are paused will focus attention on the next opportunity for President Xi Jinping and his counterpart Donald Trump to meet — at the Group of 20 meeting in Japan next month.

Their meeting in Argentina in December last year put negotiations back on track, only for them to fall apart again this month in Washington.

“If the US doesn’t make concessions in key issues, there is little point for China to resume talks,” said Zhou Xiaoming, a former commerce ministry official and diplomat.

“China’s stance has become more hard-line and it’s in no rush for a deal” because the US approach was extremely repellent and China had no illusions about US sincerity, he said.

In comments to the media on Thursday, ministry spokesman Gao Feng said China’s three major concerns needed to be addressed before any deal could be reached, adding that the unilateral escalation of tensions in Washington recently had “seriously hurt” talks.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said this week American officials “most likely will go to Beijing at some point” in the near future to continue trade talks, before later saying he had “no plans yet to go to China”.

China’s government said yesterday it would work to counteract the effects of more US tariffs and keep the economy in a “reasonable range”.

The National Development and Reform Commission was studying the impact of US tariffs and would roll out “responsive measures when necessary”, said its spokesman Meng Wei.

The blog reiterated China’s three main concerns for a deal are tariff removal, achievable purchase plans and a balanced agreement text, as first revealed by Vice-Premier Liu He.

“If anyone thinks the Chinese side is just bluffing, that will be the most significant misjudgment” since the Korean War, it added.