US Commerce Secretary meets Chinese minister in Beijing, discusses trade issues

BEIJING: US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo who met with her Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao on Monday and said that the relations between Washington and Beijing are “profoundly important”, CNN reported today. “The economic relationship between the United States and China is one of the most significant in the world. We share over USD 700 billion of trade,” Raimondo said in Beijing.

The US Commerce Secretary’s visit to Beijing and Shanghai that ends on Wednesday follows visits by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Climate Envoy John Kerry. “It is profoundly important that we have a stable economic relationship, which is to the benefit of both of our countries. And in fact what the world expects of us. It’s a complicated relationship. It’s a challenging relationship. We will of course disagree on certain issues, but I believe that we can make progress if we are direct, open and practical,” Raimondo was cited as saying. The US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is in on a four- day visit to Beijing, aimed at boosting business ties between the world's two largest economies while declaring American national security trade measures off-limits for debate.

According to CNN, China’s Minister of Commerce endorsed the call of working with Washington and added that bilateral relations were important not just to the two countries, but to the rest of the world.

Both the officials expressed optimism, with Raimondo noting that their teams had worked together over the summer to set up “new information exchanges and working groups” that would pave the way for more engagement between both sides. The US official added that she would not compromise or negotiate on any matters related to national security. But the vast majority of US-China trade was not related to national security, she said. Wang agreed, saying he saw most trade between the two economies as “benign.”

This visit comes at a time when ties between the US and China are deteriorating. The visits from US officials are part of US President Joe Biden's call to deepen communications between the US and China, to responsibly manage the relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges.

Recently, both nations got into the chip war as China imposed export controls on the overseas sales of gallium and germanium, elements essential to making semiconductors, CNN Business reported. China's trump card is seen as the counter-attack to potential US tightening of AI chip ban. Biden has signed an executive order banning American investments in key technology industries that could be used to enhance Beijing’s military capabilities, The New York Times reported. Biden's decision comes as the latest in a series of moves putting further distance between the US and China. Even China doesn't like US interaction with Taiwan.

China on Wednesday said it opposes any form of official interaction between the US and Taiwan. China’s Foreign Ministry urged the US to abide by the One-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués.

“China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region, firmly opposes any visit by ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists to the US in any name or under whatever pretext, and firmly opposes any form of US connivance and support for 'Taiwan independence' separatists and their separatist activities,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said during a press conference. Recently, the visit of Taiwan's Vice President William Lai to the United States triggered China to launch a military exercise around the Taiwan border and threatened Taiwan with further consequences. Taiwan's Vice President William Lai had made two stops in the United States as part of a trip to Paraguay when he returned to Taipei.

Lai's transits through the United States have enraged Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of their country while the latter called itself a sovereign and independent country and not part of the former, according to Al Jazeera. The diplomatic relations between China and the US have been downgraded since the Chinese spy balloon incident.