Trade tension hurts interests of US people: Chinese envoy
San Francisco: Escalating trade tension between China and the US is damaging the interests of farmers, manufacturers and local consumers in the US, a senior Chinese diplomat said in an article published on Thursday.
In the signed article carried by the San Francisco Examiner daily, Chinese Consul General to San Francisco Wang Donghua dismissed some people’s allegations that a better trade deal could be struck for the US by means of maximum pressure, including tariffs imposed constantly, the Xinhua news agency reported.
“The fact is that the US market share in China is not expanding but decreasing, because the tariffs have inevitably invited retaliation in kind, making the US products such as commercial aircraft, soybeans, corn, meat and seafood less competitive,” Wang wrote.
US soybean growers have seen a fall of over 70 per cent in their exports to China and their market share has been taken by other countries, Wang said.
China has not put any single order with Boeing Company since tariffs imposed last year; instead Beijing inked a deal to buy 300 Airbus jets from France in March 2018, which suggested great loss of benefits and job opportunities on the US side, said the Chinese diplomat.
He criticised some people for attempting to curb China’s development by decoupling the economies of the two countries.
“As the top two economies in the world, China and the US are closely intertwined to the extent not seen before, and complementary to each other in their pursuit of economic development,” Wang said.
“One’s move to hurt the other will eventually backfire or hurt oneself, and decoupling their economies will end up with both losers,” he added.
He asserted that one will not get stronger by resorting to suppression on the other; rather, it will only succeed economically by improving “its ability and competitiveness.”
Wang said there is huge potential for China and the US to cooperate and strive for win-win results, in order to respond better to the common challenges arising from the increasing uncertainties across the globe.
China appreciates those who advance the interests of the Chinese and American people and work for the sound development of China-US relations, he said, stressing that China opposes any attempt to undermine the ties of the two countries and rejects any attempt detrimental to the interests of the two people.
