China has welcomed an invitation from the United States to hold a new round of trade negotiations amid ongoing frictions. Our reporter Feng Yilei has the details from the Commerce Ministry's weekly media briefing.

The Trump administration offered a possible easing of the conflict between the world's two largest economies on Wednesday.

GAO FENG, SPOKESPERSON CHINESE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE "The trade talk teams of China and the United States have maintained communications on the concerns of each side. China has indeed received an invitation from the U.S. side and welcomed it. The two sides are in discussion about the details."

Details on the proposed meeting remain unclear, but the Wall Street Journal reported that US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had invited his Chinese counterparts, including Vice Premier Liu He, top economic adviser to President Xi Jinping.

The move came after Washington prepared to escalate the trade war with tariffs on $200 billion dollars worth of Chinese goods. And Trump threatened levies on another $267 billion dollars worth, an unprecedented escalation. Meanwhile, China's trade surplus with the US hit a new record high in August.

GAO FENG, SPOKESPERSON CHINESE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE "China's foreign trade surplus in the first eight months narrowed by 31 percent on a year-on-year basis. Our exports to the US has grown by 6.5 percent."

Though still unclear if the trade talks would delay the tariffs, the trade talk hopes have revived markets. China's yuan opened at a near one-week high against the dollar, and its stock market also surged. But experts say the restart of negotiations should not be overestimated.

ZHANG MING, DIRECTOR OF INT'L INVESTMENT DEPT. INSTITUTE OF WORLD ECONOMICS AND POLITICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE "This year the very great adjustment of Chinese stock market, one of the key reasons is that the US-China trade conflict has impaired the long-term confidence of China's domestic investors. Right now you can see US government they are trying to expand the conflict from the trade area to the direct investment area, the human capitals area."

Meanwhile, the US is said to be planning to freeze assets of Chinese companies that steal American intellectual property. China's commerce ministry said Beijing hopes the US can prevent foreign companies from losing confidence in the US business environment.

GAO FENG, SPOKESPERSON CHINESE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE "We hope the U.S. side can give objective and fair treatment to Chinese firms' operations in the country, rather than making groundless accusations or seeking excuses to engage in trade protectionism."

FENG YILEI BEIJING "China has reiterated that neither side expects and escalation in friction as imposing unilateral tariffs will ultimately harm the interests of common people. China hopes the US gets bilateral trade back on track through dialogue and consultation rather than blackmail or pressuring, FYL, CGTN, BJ."