US, China Agree to New Dialogue on Trade
By VOA News August 28, 2023
The United States and China on Monday agreed to create two separate dialogues to reduce misunderstanding of U.S. security issues central to its tight export controls on Chinese technologies, which Beijing sees as an attempt to quash its companies.
After meetings with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the two countries will establish a working group that will include business representatives to focus on commercial issues and a governmental information exchange to focus on export control issues.
"I think it's a very good sign that we agreed to concrete dialogue, and I would say, more than just kind of nebulous commitments to continue to talk, this is an official channel," said Raimondo in an interview with The New York Times after four hours of negotiations in Beijing with her Chinese counterpart.
"It is profoundly important that we have a stable economic relationship; it's to the benefit of both our countries and, in fact, what the world expects of us," she said, adding that the United States and China had a stable economic relationship, grounded in "direct, open and practical" communication.
She told Wang Wentao that the Biden administration seeks healthy competition with China and that a "growing Chinese economy that plays by the rules is in both of our interests."
Wang Wentao said China is ready to work with the United States to "foster a more favorable policy environment for stronger cooperation between our businesses to bolster bilateral trade and investment in a stable and predictable manner."
He said U.S.-China economic relations are important not just for the two countries, but also for the rest of the world.
However, U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused the Biden administration of being "at best naive" in starting a working group with China.
"The Biden administration's decision to join forces with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to establish a working group on export controls and commercial issues with CCP officials is at best naive, but also dangerous," he said. "The CCP steals U.S. intellectual property and hacks the emails of senior government officials — including Secretary Raimondo.
"The administration must stop treating the CCP as anything other than an adversary who will stop at nothing to harm our national security and spread its malign authoritarianism around the globe," McCaul said.
Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said the two countries need an enhanced dialogue on trade "in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election ... before it's too late."
"The U.S. ban on China-bound high-tech exports and investments has ended up promoting China's [tech] autonomy and innovative capabilities," he told VOA's Mandarin Service. "All these developments do not serve the interests of [U.S.] high-tech firms."
Bill Reinsch, who was undersecretary of commerce for export during the Clinton administration, told The Washington Post:"Raimondo has an extra card to play because she can initiate a dialogue on export controls since that's her portfolio — and that's something the Chinese want to talk about."
Raimondo is scheduled to visit Shanghai on Tuesday, where she's expected to discuss issues relating to the U.S.-China commercial relationship, challenges faced by U.S. businesses, and areas for potential cooperation, according to a statement issued by the Department of Commerce.
"In matters of national security, there is no room to compromise," but most U.S.-Chinese trade "does not involve national security concerns," Raimondo said on Monday. "I'm committed to promoting trade and investment in those areas that are in our mutual best interest."
VOA Mandarin contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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