Sino-US bilateral investment treaty talks go down to the wire for Xi Jinping's state visit
Representatives from Beijing and Washington swap revised offers for an investment pact ahead of Xi-Obama summit next week
Beijing and Washington are hammering out a treaty that would give Chinese and US firms more access to each other's markets, smoothing the way for President Xi Jinping's US state visit next week.
The two nations have exchanged revised offers for a bilateral investment treaty (BIT), and Beijing is in talks with Washington to reduce the scope of so-called negative lists of sectors that are off limits to investors from the other country.
A Chinese source with knowledge of the talks and a US Trade Representative spokeswoman said revised lists were exchanged as top negotiators gathered in Washington last week.
Both sides are still reviewing the offers and the talks have not concluded.
Commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang yesterday said the investment treaty would be "an important topic" during Xi's summit with US President Barack Obama.
A US Trade Representative spokeswoman said a successful end to the BIT talks would rest on an "agreement on a high standard treaty text and a Chinese negative list that is limited, narrow, and represents a substantial liberalisation of the Chinese investment market".