China-US Trade War: Chinese experts offer their views on growing tensions
Updated 22:17, 07-Aug-2019
Our reporter, Wang Hui, has been finding out what some experts in the field think. Let's hear their analyses.
Right after the 12th round of trade talks between China and the US at the end of July, which both sides called "constructive", US President Donald Trump announced an additional 10% in tariffs would be imposed on Chinese exports with a value of 300-billion US dollars.
The action came despite the more optimistic mood at the G20 summit held in Japan in late June when Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met. The two agreed to resume the trade talks, and the US said it would not impose new tariffs.
So Chinese experts blame Trump for, in their view, not keeping his word.
ZHAO JINPING, FORMER OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CENTER OF THE STATE COUNCIL "Trump's announcement imposing additional tariffs has totally betrayed the consensus reached during the G20 summit. It has damaged the foundation of the China-US trade talks, and brought big uncertainties to the future of the negotiations."
WANG YIMING, DEPUTY DIRECTOR DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CENTER OF THE STATE COUNCIL "The alternation of fights and talks is likely to become a normal status quo. We need to be prepared for the trade war to last a long time."
After the announcement of Trump's additional tariffs, the yuan weakened beyond 7 per US dollar on Monday for the first time since May 2008. The US Treasury reacted by designating China as a currency manipulator.
WANG YIMING, DEPUTY DIRECTOR DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CENTER OF THE STATE COUNCIL "It shows that Washington is self-willed, capricious, and unreasonable. In America, the Treasury Department's report on currency policies in May didn't label China as a currency manipulator, but it now has changed over night. It aims at suppressing China."
ZHAO JINPING, FORMER OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CENTER OF THE STATE COUNCIL "China's currency system is mainly determined by the demand-supply relation of the market. There is no so-called manipulation in this system. The RMB's recent depreciation was caused by the fact that America's unilateral trade protectionism severely hit the global market's confidence, especially investors' confidence, and changed their expectations. The RMB's depreciation actually does reflect America's harm to global economy."
Zhao also says that Washington's moves targeting China don't abide by international rules, and it will damage the stability of global financial markets, and hurt other countries as well.
WANG HUI BEIJING "Experts believe that China needs to maintain a stable economy to deal with uncertainties created by Washington. They say China should also keep exploring the potential of its huge domestic market, and enhance the core competitiveness of its companies to cope with America's extreme pressure. Wang Hui, CGTN, Beijing."