US accusations disregard facts, unacceptable

The new accusations against China made by the United States in the update of the Section 301 investigation disregard the facts and are totally unacceptable, China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

“China is deeply concerned with the new accusations, and urges the US side to stop making statements or moves that are destructive to bilateral economic and trade ties,” the ministry’s spokesman Gao Feng said at a press conference.

The Office of the US Trade Representative recently released a report updating information on its Section 301 investigation, which included new blame on China’s technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation policies.

Gao said China had reiterated that the investigation as well as related trade measures were unilateral, trade protectionist practices taken by the US according to its domestic laws.

“By putting domestic laws above international laws, the United States has broken its commitment to all members of the World Trade Organization and has disregarded and damaged multilateral rules of the World Trade Organization,” he said.

Gao urged the US side to “take a constructive attitude to bring bilateral economic and trade ties back on the right track, and create favorable conditions for stable growth of the global economy.”

“Teams of the two sides are in close contact to push the implementation of the consensus reached by the presidents of the two nations,” he said.

Gao also said: “China was assessing the potential impact from a US proposal to increase control over technology exports, and will take necessary measures according to the situation and safeguard legitimate rights and interests of Chinese businesses.”

Citing security concerns, the US government on Monday proposed stepping up scrutiny over technology exports in 14 key high-tech areas, including artificial intelligence and microprocessor technology.

A 30-day public consultation period on the proposal to include those sectors in its broader export control regime is under way and will end on December 19, according to a document published on the US government’s Federal Register.

“To erect unnecessary barriers for normal international trade by generalizing the concept of security will neither enhance national security nor promote balanced trade growth,” Gao said.

He urged the US to take constructive measures to improve the trade environment, and create conditions for increasing exports of its competitive products and narrowing the trade deficit.

US President Donald Trump has enacted tariffs on more than US$250 billion in imports from China, which has in turn put counter-tariffs on more than US$100 billion in goods China buys from the United States.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to hold talks with Trump on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Argentina, which starts on November 30.