China to send President Jinping’s special envoy to US for talks to calm trade tension

The visit aims at cooling a trade dispute that threatens to upend markets from soy beans to steel.

China on Monday announced it was sending a top official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to the US as President Xi Jinping’s envoy for talks to calm tension over trade and welcomed President Donald Trump’s comments that indicated easing of sanctions against Chinese telecom firm, ZTE.

US officials had demanded that China slash its trade surplus with the US by $200 billion by the end of 2020. (Reuters File Photo)

Vice Premier Liu He will visit the US from May 15 to 19 as Xi’s special trade envoy to consult American counterparts on trade and economics that have embattled bilateral ties between the two largest economies of the world.

Liu is also member of the CPC Central Committee’s politburo, one of the highest decision making bodies in China.

Liu as the chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue is visiting the US on Washington’s invitation, ministry of foreign affairs, spokesperson, Lu Kang said.

“Liu will continue to hold consultations with the US economic team headed by the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on economic and trade issues between the two countries,” Lu said.

“China stands ready to work with the United States to promote positive and constructive results in the forthcoming consultations,” he said.

Speaking at the regular ministry briefing on Monday, Lu added that China appreciates the US position on Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE,

Trump tweeted on Sunday that he and Xi were working together to give ZTE “a way to get back into business, fast,” and that US Commerce Department has been instructed to work on the issue.

“ZTE, one of the world’s largest telecom equipment makers, was forced to suspend its main operations worldwide after the US Commerce Department prohibited American companies from exporting products to it in mid-April,” a report in the official news agency, Xinhua said.

“The Chinese public and government are greatly concerned about the fate of the company, which hires some 70,000 people across the globe. The incident also triggered in China extensive discussions about the necessity and urgency to develop a reliable domestic chip industry,” the report added.

During the latest China-US economic and trade consultations held in Beijing in early May, the Chinese side had lodged “solemn representations” with the US over the ZTE case.

The Xinhua report said the US delegates responded that they “attach importance to” China’s stance and will report it to Trump.