China commits to trade talks with US
NO OFFICIAL DISCUSSIONS ABOUT TRUMP-XI MEETING
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Beijing is committed to striking a trade deal with the US but it’s ready to respond with more countermeasures, said China’s Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai, as he called the US blacklisting of Huawei an “unusual” act of state power against a company.
Cui said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Friday that China wants to continue working toward a trade agreement for President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to finalise. There’s no official discussions about a meeting between the two leaders, he said.
The US and China should have cooperation and collaboration, Cui said, adding that “trade is about mutual benefits, war is about mutual destruction. How can you put these two very different concepts in one term?”
There are signs the trade conflict is spilling over into other areas, especially technology. The Trump administration last week placed Huawei Technologies Co. on an export blacklist, choking off China’s biggest technology company from its US suppliers. Cui said the accusations against Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co. is seeking about $1 billion from a small group of lenders, its first major funding test after getting hit with US curbs that threaten to cut off access to critical suppliers.
The world’s largest provider of networking gear is seeking an offshore loan in either US or Hong Kong dollars, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The company is targeting maturities of five and seven years, the people said.
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are a “groundless suspicion.” He described the action by the US against Huawei as an “unusual” move that mobilises “state power against a private company.”
Asked about Chinese retaliation to the US’s Huawei moves, he said “we will do whatever’s necessary to protect the legitimate interests of our companies, of our people and of our country.” At the heart of Trump’s crackdown is the suspicion that Chinese firms help Beijing spy on foreign governments.
Tech progress
“What are people really up to under the pretext of national security? We don’t know,” said Cui on Friday. “Can they really stop the technological progress? Can they really deprive people of the right to benefit from the technologies? I don’t think so. And do they really have the interests of the American people in mind? I don’t think so either.”
Trump said on Thursday that Huawei could “be included in some kind of trade deal” with China, without offering details. He also added that the company is “very dangerous.”
The US is also considering putting at least five Chinese surveillance-equipment companies on the same blacklist as Huawei. In another move that could target China, the Commerce Department said Thursday that it was considering a rule to put anti-subsidy tariffs on products from countries that undervalue their currencies.