Chinese finance ministry official says
'optimistic' on trade war breakthrough
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[October 10, 2018]
By Yawen Chen
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - A Chinese
finance ministry official said on Wednesday he felt "a little bit more
optimistic" on the prospect of breaking an impasse in trade negotiations
with Washington, saying both sides are too economically integrated to
tolerate a fallout.
An escalating tariff war between the world's two largest economies has
set world markets on edge and cast a cloud over global economic growth.
China, angered by the latest U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese
goods, turned down Washington's invitation last month for another round
of trade talks, urging the U.S. government to show "sincerity" first by
dropping tariff threats.
"Currently the ball is in their court. But personally I'm a little bit
more optimistic," Zhou Qiangwu, Associate Counsel of the Finance
Ministry's department of international affairs, told Reuters on the
sidelines of the annual IMF and World Bank meetings in Bali.
"The talks are still going on, via different channels. The cancellation
(of official trade talks) is only one of them," said Zhou, although he
did not elaborate and said he was unsure when the next formal
negotiation would take place.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday repeated his threat to slap tariffs on
an additional $267 billion of Chinese imports if Beijing retaliates for
the recent levies and other measures the United States has imposed.
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Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, also said China is not
ready to reach a deal on trade.
"China wants to make a deal, and I say they're not ready yet," Trump
said. "I just say they're not ready yet. And we've canceled a couple of
meetings because I say they're not ready to make a deal."
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese Foreign
Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi exchanged unusually harsh remarks
in public over their governments' deep-seated differences during a brief
visit to Beijing by Washington's top diplomat.
Zhou said while the trade war had impacted growth and hurt market
confidence, more serious problems would start to hit the global economy
if the situation escalated.
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![](../images/101018pics/news_n25.jpg)
A staff member walks past U.S. and Chinese flags placed for a joint
news conference by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese
Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing,
China June 14, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo
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"If the world's two largest economies cannot work together, the
whole world will suffer," he said.
An opinion piece published on Wednesday in the Global Times, a
widely read Chinese tabloid, said the United States wants to be the
only winner in its conflict with China, but history says that
approach will be full of risks.
It is also unrealistic for China to seek an overwhelming victory
over the United States, given its leadership in global technology
and ability to mobilize allies to confront China, according to the
article.
Seeking an alternative resolution will inevitably be the only
option, the article said.
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its global economic
growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019, saying that the U.S-China trade
war was taking a toll and emerging markets were struggling with
tighter liquidity and capital outflows.
A spokesman for China's Finance Ministry said Zhou's views did not
reflect the ministry's official stance.
(Reporting by Yawen Chen; Additional Reporting by Ryan Woo in
Beijing; Editing by Ed Davies and Simon Cameron-Moore)
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