Raimondo visit can only benefit relations between US, China
- Beijing and Shanghai talks by US commerce secretary may not bring substantive results, but they should strengthen contacts and trust
Reciprocal visits by commerce ministers of the world’s two biggest economies would usually be unremarkable.
In the case of Gina Raimondo’s visit to Beijing and Shanghai beginning tomorrow, it is going ahead without any improvement in tense bilateral relations, three months after Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao met Raimondo in Washington for a “candid” exchange on trade issues.
It is in fact the fourth top-level meeting between the two sides in Beijing this summer, following trips by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and climate envoy John Kerry.
Despite the regular outreach, seasoned observers are sceptical that Raimondo’s short trip will have any substantive results for bilateral commercial relations, but that is not to discount it. One pointed out that a pattern of regular top-level meetings increases the comfort zone at official working level between the two sides.
The Chinese side has welcomed the deepening of communication while the Americans have set the stage for constructive talks with an apparent gesture of good faith, removing 27 Chinese entities from a list of “unverified” Chinese companies, a de facto trade restriction pending closer scrutiny of the end use of goods from US suppliers.
China’s foreign ministry welcomed the latest evidence of easing, however temporary, as showing “the two sides can address specific concerns through communication, based on mutual respect”.