The rivalry between China and the United States could last longer than a generation and the disputes over trade could escalate into investment, finance and technology fields, a senior Chinese policy adviser said on Wednesday. Yu Yongding, a senior fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Beijing and Washington were soon likely to agree to stop levying additional punitive tariffs on each other, but predicted their rivalry would be protracted and end only when a new balance was reached. “I may not see the day [when the rivalry is over], I am already 70 years old,” Yu said in Beijing. “You young people probably can see the day, but I am not absolutely sure.” I may not see the day [when the rivalry is over], I am already 70 years old. You young people probably can see the day, but I am not absolutely sure Yu Yongding His view reflects a school of thought among Chinese decision makers and scholars that the relationship between China and the US is set to become more confrontational, with Washington now viewing Beijing as a strategic rival and competitor, rather than a partner. Speaking just days before President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Yu said the US was unlikely to go ahead with its plan to impose 25 per cent tariffs on another US$300 billion worth of Chinese goods. However, a de-escalation in the tariff war could be followed by an “investment war”, a “finance war”, an “exchange rate war” and even “quasi hot war measures” such as oil embargoes and the freezing of Chinese assets, he said. Yu, a former academic member of China’s Monetary Policy Committee, said the US could pressure American firms to reduce investments in China while banning Chinese money from investments in the US. The US may also widen the trade ban list to cut hi-tech exports to China. Yu said China should manage the growing hostilities with sense and try to maintain its role in global value chains. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday that a trade deal between China and the US was 90 per cent completed. Both countries have levelled billions of dollars in tariffs against each other, in a trade conflict that has expanded to include technology, with the US blacklisting of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and five Chinese supercomputing companies.