BEIJING: A senior Chinese trade official has a message for U.S. businesses operating in China: We hear your concerns, and we are trying our best. Oh, and we have some concerns of our own.In a rare interview granted in the run-up to President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States, Zhang Xiangchen, China’s deputy representative for international trade, shared his thoughts on the nature of U.S.-China trade relations, likening the ties to a boat and trade to the ballast that keeps things “sailing forward smoothly.”
Although there has been much talk about issues such as the South China Sea, cybertheft and the devaluation of the yuan in the lead-up to the visit “drama, drama, drama,” quipped CNN Zhang prefers to take a long view, noting that U.S.-China ties are much better now than they used to be, say, 10 or 20 years ago.With Xi in Seattle, the District, and New York over the next two weeks, Zhang said we can expect positive steps, including progress on state-province economic ties, cooperation on overseas development assistance and talk on a bilateral investment treaty a potentially landmark agreement that would provide clearer rules for foreign investment.
Zhang declined to comment on when such a deal might be made, noting only that China’s entrance to the World Trade Organization took 15 years and that this treaty is “no less important or complex.”To U.S. businesses in China, “not perfect” might feel like something of an understatement. U.S. companies that operate in the country have long complained that their success in the gargantuan Chinese market is undercut by policies that give local companies an advantage, whether by restricting foreign investment, subsidizing local firms or selective targeting in periodic compliance crackdowns.
