BCN-29 No trade talks unless US ‘takes gun off’ China’s head: Beijing

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ZCZC

BCN-29

CHINA-US-TRADE-WTO

No trade talks unless US ‘takes gun off’ China’s head: Beijing

GENEVA, July 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The United States should “take the gun
off” China’s head and start keeping its word in order to have useful talks on
ending a trade war, Beijing’s deputy commerce minister said Thursday.

Wang Shouwen, representing China during the country’s policy review at the
World Trade Organization this week, noted that the US “started the war” which
has seen escalating threats to slap reciprocal tariffs on goods worth
hundreds of billions of dollars.

“We have had talks and those talks produced good progress but this
progress was ignored by one party and that party went ahead with a trade
war,” Wang told reporters in Geneva.

Asked what conditions would be necessary for negotiations on easing the
conflict, he said: “For any talk to be successful, one party needs to take
the gun off the head of the other party.

“And for any talk to be useful, one party needs to be keeping its words.
If one side keeps chopping and changing all the time the talk would be
pointless,” he added.

So far, the two powers have only imposed tariffs on $34 billion (29
billion euros) worth of each others goods.

But Washington on Tuesday threatened to target an additional $200 billion
in imports and China immediately vowed to retaliate.

Senior members of President Donald Trump’s Republican party have condemned
the spiralling trade row and called for face-to-face talks with Beijing.

Wang called the US a “trade bully” and said Trump’s conduct was “against
the interest of the US businesses, the US consumers (and) US workers.”

Among Washington’s many grievances regarding Chinese trade are charges
that the WTO treats China too kindly.

Trump’s administration insists the 164-member body allows China to claim
benefits that should be only reserved for the world’s poorest nations and
fails to punish its other misconduct.

On Wednesday, the US envoy to the WTO Dennis Shea said it was time for a
“reckoning” over China’s membership and that without sweeping reform the WTO
will prove unable to contain China and ultimately become an irrelevant.

Wang countered on Thursday that China was open to WTO reform, but mocked
Shea’s “alarmist point of view.”

“WTO is not perfect. There might be areas in which there is need for
improvement, but I think the statement that says WTO (rules) are insufficient
to deal with problems from China is a statement of exaggeration,” Wang said.

“If there is need for improvement of the rules China is happy to discuss
with all other WTO members.”

BSS/AFP/HR/1032