BEIJING: Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday called on China and the United States to enhance mutually-beneficial cooperation.
Li made the remarks when meeting with visiting U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Beijing.
Li said the economic and trade relations between China and the U.S. are mutually beneficial and win-win in nature.
Politicizing economic and trade issues and overstretching the concept of security will not only seriously affect bilateral relations and mutual trust, but also undermine the interests of enterprises and the people of the two countries, and will have a disastrous impact on the global economy, he said.
Noting that China is the largest developing country and the U.S. is the largest developed country, Li said the two sides should strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, reduce friction and confrontation, and jointly promote world economic recovery and cope with global challenges.
For her part, Raimondo said the Biden administration supports China in its economic development and improving people’s livelihood.
The U.S. has no intention to contain China’s development or seek decoupling from China, she said, pledging to keep communication to maintain normal economic and trade relations between the two countries, and promote the stable development of bilateral relations.
The U.S. is also willing to strengthen cooperation with China in areas such as artificial intelligence, climate change, and combating the fentanyl issue.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng also met with visiting U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Beijing on Tuesday. The two sides have agreed to continue to maintain communication and support enterprises of the two countries in carrying out pragmatic cooperation.
The two sides had candid, pragmatic and constructive discussions over implementing the important consensus reached at the Bali meeting last November between the two countries’ heads of state, as well as economic and trade issues of common concern.
The Chinese side expressed its concerns over measures taken by the U.S., such as Section 301 tariffs, export controls against China and two-way investment restrictions.
In a late-night statement, the Chinese Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) said Wang also raised serious concerns about various US policies toward China such as Section 301 tariffs, semiconductor policies, restrictions on investments and sanctions on Chinese firms, stressing that overstretching the concept of national security is not conducive to bilateral trade.
Establishment of the new communication mechanisms showed both sides are taking necessary measures to enhance talks to address disputes; however, concrete actions by Washington to address China’s core concerns over crackdown measures are needed for a stable bilateral economic and trade relationship, experts said.
Even though major differences between the two countries will remain, efforts to stabilize bilateral economic and trade ties and enhance cooperation in areas of common interests could help the US tackle its own economic challenges, including high inflation and lingering recessionary pressure, as the Chinese economy remains resilient thanks to a series of measures to stabilize growth, experts noted.
Closely watched talks
Wang met with Raimondo on Monday morning, China Media Group reported. Video footage of the two commerce chiefs, who were both smiling and appeared to be in a positive mood, accompanied by other officials, walking into a meeting room, was broadcast by several news outlets.
According to the MOFCOM statement, Wang said economic and trade ties are the ballast stone for China-US relations and China is willing to work with the US based on the principle of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation to provide favorable policy environment for the businesses in both countries and promote bilateral trade and investment.
Raimondo also said that “it is profoundly important that we have a stable economic relationship, which is to the benefit of both of our countries. And in fact, what the world expects of us,” CNN reported on Monday. In a statement, the US Commerce Department also said that Raimondo emphasized the importance of ensuring open lines of communication.
Notably, the two sides announced to establish new communication channels between the commerce authorities of the two countries, including a working group consisting of Chinese and US officials and business representatives to seek solutions on specific commercial issues, according to the MOFCOM. The two commerce chiefs also agreed to communicate regularly and meet at least once every year. The two sides also launched a communication mechanism for export controls, and agreed to carry out technical consultations between experts from the two countries on enhancing the protection of trade secrets and confidential business information during administrative licensing procedures.
Bai Ming, deputy director of the international market research institute at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the mechanisms are mostly procedural items for enhancing communication on the issues, which are necessary but concrete actions from the US are crucial for a stable China-US economic and trade relationship.
“The hope is that the US side will actually show real sincerity and address these issues, because just having more talks on the issues is far from enough,” Bai told the Global Times on Monday.
