China sets up think tank alliance to better understand US as trade war continues
New alliance is yet another effort by Beijing to reduce rising tensions with Washington
China is gearing up efforts to improve its analysis of US affairs with the finance ministry setting up an alliance of around 20 top Chinese think tanks to come up with better policy advice as it looks for ways to handle the trade war with the US.
The alliance, comprising researchers from the National Development and Reform Commission and Peking University, will study the latest political, economic and trade situation in the US.
The move follows the Trump administration’s imposition of 25 per cent tariffs on US$34 billion in Chinese imports earlier this month, which led to Beijing retaliating with the same tariffs. The White House also said it would impose tariffs of 10 per cent on another US$200 billion worth of Chinese products by August.
The alliance was set up on Saturday, but the ministry announcement was made on Monday.
The tit-for-tat trade war has forced Beijing to try and understand what is happening inside the Trump administration. However it has struggled to find clues to the US president’s intentions. Its previous efforts to avert a trade war met with failure, including two trips to the US by Vice Premier Liu He.