China says history shows positive outcome from U.S. talks possible

[June 19, 2019]  BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday positive outcomes were possible in trade negotiations with the United States, after the presidents of the world's two largest economies agreed to revive their troubled talks at a G20 meeting this month.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. China, which previously declined to say whether the two leaders would get together, confirmed the meeting.

The two countries are in the middle of a costly trade dispute that has put pressure on financial markets and damaged the global economy.

Talks to reach a broad deal broke down last month after U.S. officials accused China of backing away from agreed commitments. Interaction since then has been limited, and Trump has threatened to put more tariffs on Chinese products in an escalation that businesses in both countries want to avoid.

News that the negotiations were back on the agenda cheered China's stock markets with the blue-chip CSI300 index ending 1.3% higher while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.0%.

Speaking at a daily news briefing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said it was important to find a solution that was acceptable to both sides.

"I'm not getting ahead of myself, but communication over four decades shows it is possible to achieve positive outcomes," he said.

Lu said he could not give an exact agenda for the meeting.

"The two leaders will talk about whatever they want," he said. "A deal is not only in the interests of the two peoples but meets the aspirations of the whole world."

U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping meet business leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, November 9, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

In another possible sign of a pre-G20 thaw, China's state television's movie channel, which has in recent weeks broadcast old patriotic films about China's heroics against the United States in the 1950-53 Korean War, on Wednesday showed a movie that put the United States in a far more positive light.

The channel showed 1999's "Lover's Grief over the Yellow River", about a U.S. pilot in World War Two who was rescued by Communist guerrilla forces in China and falls in love with one of the young women fighters.

The overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily said on its Weibo account the movie was "deeply moving", and showed a picture of the lead Chinese actress and lead U.S. actor locked in an embrace.

"It's better to fall in love than to fight," the Beijing office of the Communist Youth League wrote approvingly of the movie on its Weibo account.

(Reporting by Cate Cadell; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Darren Schuettler)

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