China can ‘win big battles’, economic team says as trade row with United States heats up

Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He on Monday chaired a meeting of the country’s top team responsible for managing and containing financial and economic risk, the government announced, just days before the US is set to impose new tariffs on goods imported from China.

The Financial Stability and Development Committee, which comprises some of President Xi Jinping’s must trusted officials, convened to discuss economic threats and “external risks”, according to a statement published late on Tuesday on the government’s website.

While it did not directly mention China’s long-running trade dispute with the US, it appeared to reference it by saying the country has “favourable conditions to win big risk control battles and cope with external risks”.

The statement said also that Liu, who has spearheaded Beijing’s trade talks with Washington, listened to a report by People’s Bank of China governor Yi Gang on the government’s plans for handling financial risk through 2020.

Yi is also a vice-chairman of the committee and head of its office at the central bank.

It seems likely the committee was behind the announcement made on Tuesday by the central bank that it would support the yuan.