A spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) remarked Tuesday on the U.S. statement on China's newly-issued white paper, according to the MOC website.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of the Treasury made a statement Monday on the white paper, "China's Position on the China-U.S. Economic and Trade Consultations."
Neglecting multilateral trade rules, the United States has taken unilateralist and protectionist actions frequently in the name of the trade deficit to trigger China-U.S. economic and trade frictions, said the spokesperson, adding that the United States had also tried to coerce China into accepting its demands in the economic and trade consultations.
"This was typical trade bullying," said the spokesperson. "The United States is fully accountable for harming both sides and the world."
The U.S. trade deficit with China, affected by many factors, is the result of market effect. The United States has reaped a lot of benefits from its trade with China, and its argument of being taken advantage of is completely untenable, the spokesperson said.
Since it took office, the new U.S. administration has disregarded global interests, trumpeted "America First," ignored international duties and responsibilities, abused its state power to suppress other countries' enterprises and disrupted the global industrial chains and supply chains, the spokesperson said.
"It is self-evident who has disrespected international rules and who has taken 'unfair trade' practices," the spokesperson said.
The white paper elaborated on China's efforts to push forward the economic and trade consultations with the greatest patience and sincerity, the spokesperson said, stressing that the U.S. accusations were totally unwarranted.
The U.S. accusations of China backpedalling in the consultations is simply nonsense. It is common practice to make revision suggestions on the wording of a text under discussion in trade talks, the spokesperson said.
The U.S. administration has frequently adjusted its demands in the previous rounds of consultations but arbitrarily accused China of backpedalling. Its intention is nothing but to sling mud at China, which is not acceptable to China, added the spokesperson.
China always believes that the bilateral disagreements and frictions should be solved through dialogue and consultation, the spokesperson said.
Consultation, however, needs to be based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, said the spokesperson. A consultation will lead nowhere if one side attempts to achieve a result solely beneficiary to itself by coercing the other to compromise.
China hopes that the United States will stop its wrong actions and make joint efforts with China to meet each other halfway to promote the healthy and steady development of the China-U.S. economic and trade relations, the spokesperson said.
