Donald Trump’s fair trade and intellectual property demands ‘good for China’, says economist Jin Keyu
- London School of Economics associate professor sees trade war as bringing necessary external pressure on Beijing to promote changes
- US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were in Beijing this week for talks with Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He
US President Donald Trump’s demands for China to protect intellectual property rights and to conduct fairer trade practises are “actually good for China”, Jin Keyu, an associate professor of economics at the London School of Economics, said.
“What the US are demanding of China to do in terms of better protection of intellectual property and fairer trade practises are all good things for China in the long run,” said Jin in an interview this week.
“What President Trump is asking China to do is actually good for China, it’s a strategic gift.”
Jin, whose views on China are gaining influence on the international stage, said the trade war could create an external trigger for Beijing to accelerate its economic liberalisation process.
The daughter of Jin Liqun, the head of the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, compared the trade talks with the US to China’s negotiation to join the World Trade Organisation.
“We saw this in joining the WTO in 2001 where a lot of state enterprise reforms had long been delayed and were suddenly pushed through,” she added.