While the world is wondering where the China-US trade war will go next, the Chinese ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai has published an article in the American newspaper USA Today. He says Trump's plan to impose tariffs on China is unjustified and will not be effective. Natalie Pang has more.

The US government's main criticism of its trade relationship with China is America's trade deficit. Ambassador Cui explains in his article that China has never deliberately sought a trade surplus, adding that the trade flow is determined by market forces. The top diplomat went on to point out that trade with China gives US families greater access to higher quality, lower cost products, lowering prices in the US by up to 1.5 percent and saving an average of 850 dollars per household in 2015 alone.

Another common target for US concern are questions of intellectual property rights in the Chinese economy, but Cui wrote that these criticisms were neither fair nor objective. China has codified a robust legal mechanism for IPR protection and since joining the World Trade Organization, intellectual property royalties paid from the country to foreign rights-holders has grown 17 percent annually, reaching 28.6 billion US dollars in 2017, with one out of four of every dollar going to the US.  

Another accusation levied against China that Cui refuted is the supposed policy "forced technology transfer" from the country. The ambassador said the Chinese government has never made such a request of foreign companies, and that many overseas firms have reaped huge benefits from joint ventures in China over the years. 

In the article, Cui insisted that China and US have a commitment to avoid the kind of trade conflict that has manifested in recent weeks, adding that the US has forced China to take countermeasures. Cui reiterated that there can be no winner in a trade war, and that Washington's motives in this situation are misguided. Natalie Pang CGTN.