China, US, Prepare For New Round Of Trade Talks

With a month left in their truce, senior US and Chinese officials will meet in Washington this week, hoping to move toward a bargain to end their unprecedented trade war.

Beijing's trade envoy, Vice-Premier Liu He, will lead a 30-person delegation at the invitation of US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and trade representative Robert Lighthizer, who is heading up the American effort.

Washington has made its demands clear: China must agree to far-reaching "structural" reforms in its trade practices, curbing massive state intervention in markets and the alleged theft of American technological know-how, including through hacking and the forced transfer of intellectual property.

The American president's protectionist moves have begun to weigh on the Chinese economy, which last year posted its slowest economic growth in nearly three decades, causing Trump to claim he has the upper hand in the talks.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday that Washington and Beijing remained "miles and miles" from the finish line in their talks, cautioning against putting too much hope for a final resolution at this week's talks.

"I think next week's negotiations will be critical in determining whether the Chinese are willing to talk about any of the structural issues the United States is concerned about," said Edward Alden, a trade expert at the Council on Foreign Relations

Early this month, Chinese officials signaled they were open to reducing the trade imbalance but there has been scant sign of movement on Washington's tougher demands.

A deal could be especially hard to reach should Beijing prove unwilling to cede any ground on the state subsidies at the heart of Xi's vision for industrial pre-eminence.

Betty Wang, senior China economist at ANZ Banking Group, said Beijing was likely to hold steadfast to its industrial planning.

"China's transformation to high-end manufacturing and high value-added services is also a step China must go through for its domestic sustainable development," she said.

Nevertheless, Beijing officials could offer a show of good will. State media last month reported that lawmakers were considering new foreign investment regulations that would ban forced technological transfers. (AFP)