China-US trade deal coming soon, Huawei’s Meng to be released in weeks, Communist Party insider predicts
- Beijing will take steps to reduce trade imbalance but won’t bow to pressure to make major economic reforms, adviser Xie Maosong says
- Trade war means relations between two countries will never be the same again, according to the Communist Party adviser
Tensions between China and the United States will ease in the next few months as the two sides reach consensus on a series of trade issues, while Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou could be released as early as April, according to a senior adviser to the Communist Party.
But whatever the outcome, ties between the two countries would never be the same again, said Xie Maosong, assistant to the secretary general of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, a Beijing-based think tank.
Xie offered the assessment at the South China Morning Post’s annual China Conference, where various analysts predicted that China-US relations would be volatile and competitive in the long term – although businesses were finding ways to weather the storm.
Speakers also addressed the Greater Bay Area plan released on the weekend, highlighting Hong Kong’s uniqueness and the contribution that greater connectivity and pilot programmes in the area could benefit national growth.
In the opening remark, Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, said president Xi Jinping has highlighted the importance of Hong Kong’s role in China’s success story during their last meeting.
“Hong Kong is proud of the contribution to the country and our own progress in the past 40 years,” she said.
Xie, an adjunct professor at the Central Party School, which trains senior party cadres, said he expected Beijing and Washington to hold further trade talks within the next three months based on agreements reached in Washington this week.