China's Stance on Trade: White paper restates China's position, clarifies facts

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03:18

China released a white paper on Sunday laying out Beijing's stance on the simmering trade conflict with the US. Experts say the white paper is not only a reiteration of China's position, but also a clarification of the facts. CGTN's Zou Yun has the story.

Nothing is agreed on until everything is. One of the key messages delivered by the newly released white paper on China-US trade.

The paper points out that the US government has backtracked on its commitments in the China-US trade negotiations and should bear the sole and entire responsibility for the stalled talks.

Experts say it is of great significance for China to release a white paper at this time, focusing on the trade issue.

And the more the US government is offered, the more it wants. The white paper indicates that setbacks in the consultations were all results of "US breach of consensus and commitments, and backtracking".

For instance, in March of last year, the US government unveiled the so-called Report on Section 301 Investigation of China, falsely accusing China of "IP theft" and "forced technology transfer", and subsequently announced an additional tariff of 25 percent on 50 billion US Dollars of Chinese exports to the US.

This came after the two sides made substantial progress as they reached a preliminary consensus on expanding China's imports of agricultural and energy products from the US.

And in May of 2018, despite the opposition of its domestic business community and the general public, the US administration tore up the consensus just ten days after both countries issued a joint statement, criticizing China's economic system and trade policy, while announcing the resumption of the tariff program.

And the US backtracking continues. Earlier this May, despite China's fierce opposition, the US raised additional tariffs on 200 billion US Dollars of Chinese exports to the US from 10 to 25 percent, which jeopardizes the consultation that had agreed on most of the issues.

ZOU YUN BEIJING "As to where the China-US economic and trade consultations are heading, the white paper points out China is looking forward, not backward. With the conviction that cooperation is the only correct choice. ZY, CGTN, BJ."