American side should stop distorting facts

One of the most frustrating and disappointing parts in the China-US trade war has been the US side’s distortion of facts, which most recently came after China issued a white paper on bilateral trade consultations.

After China comprehensively and accurately introduced the consultation process between the two countries in the white paper, the Office of the US Trade Representative and the US Department of the Treasury issued a joint statement, sticking to a prejudiced stance and a twisted version of the story.

The statement groundlessly accused China of “backtracking” in bilateral consultations and pursuing a “blame game.”

However, anyone who has read China’s white paper would think differently on the issue, as China has clearly illustrated how it has remained cool-headed, exercised restraint and demonstrated the greatest sincerity during the economic and trade consultations.

Bullying

It is the United States which backtracked three times during the economic and trade consultations and which should bear the sole responsibility for the severe setback to the consultations.

Aiming to coerce China into deals that undermine its sovereignty, the US administration has resorted to trade bullying measures, including escalating tariffs on Chinese goods and restricting Chinese technology enterprises.

As the white paper said, a country’s sovereignty and dignity must be respected during consultations. The US side should realize that it is unrealistic to expect China to back down on issues of principle.

As China has been taking active measures to open up its market, strengthen the protection of intellectual property and expand imports from the United States, the US businesses, workers and farmers have all benefited handsomely from the Chinese market.

There could have been more opportunities from China if it were not for the trade protectionism from the US administration, which will eventually bring serious harm to the US economy.

It takes mutual respect to conduct bilateral consultations, which is the only right track to solve the trade frictions. China is open to negotiation, but will also fight to the end if needed.