US, China must curb national security impact on trade, commerce minister Wang Wentao tells counterpart Gina Raimondo
- Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on Thursday in the first ministerial-level talks of a new exchange mechanism
- Communications were ‘pragmatic, constructive and fruitful’, with vice-ministerial level talks under the mechanism set to take place in the first quarter of next year
China and the United States must discuss the boundary of national security to minimise the impact on normal trade and investment, commerce minister Wang Wentao told his US counterpart on Thursday.
“Generalisation and politicisation of national security affects normal trade and investment exchanges between the two countries, and it is very important for both sides to discuss the boundary of national security on the trade front,” Wang told US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in San Francisco, according to the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing.
The communications were “pragmatic, constructive and fruitful”, the ministry said.
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Both sides agreed to hold their first vice-ministerial level talks under the exchange mechanism in the first quarter of next year and start technical discussions on the protection of commercial and trade secrets in January, the ministry added.
But both sides agreed to support subnational trade cooperation and investment promotion activities and set up project offices to facilitate docking projects to achieve practical results.
They would also establish an intergovernmental dialogue mechanism on standards and conformity assessments.
The US should stop politicising, instrumentalising and weaponising economic, trade and science and technology issues
The US Commerce Department had yet to comment on the meeting.
In Beijing on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning also lashed out at the tech containment efforts.
“The US should stop politicising, instrumentalising and weaponising economic, trade and science and technology issues, and stop disrupting the stability of the global production and supply chain,” Mao said.
Mao was responding to questions about a US probe into Applied Materials for allegedly violating Washington’s export ban and shipping equipment via South Korea to sanctioned Chinese chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).
Washington has been making moves to curb China’s access to advanced technologies and restricting US investment into China’s hi-tech sectors amid a heightened tech war, which has put Beijing’s hopes of tech advancement at risk, and pushing it to double down on its self-reliance efforts.
Judging from the results of the meeting, there does not seem to be any reversal of previous policies
“Judging from current reports, the meeting between Chinese and American commerce chiefs has eased some tensions,” said Nie Riming, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law.
“Both sides demanded the other side to maintain communication on the issues they are concerned most about and not let the situation get any worse.
“However, judging from the results of the meeting, there does not seem to be any reversal of previous policies.
“We can also observe the newly established working groups between the two countries to see whether there are substantive results in the future.”
Tjia Yin-nor, an associate professor with the Department of Public and International Affairs at the City University of Hong Kong, also said the talks would likely achieve some small deals for cooperation, but that tensions would continue.
