The just-concluded inaugural China-U.S. Comprehensive Economic Dialogue (CED) has charted the right course for economic cooperation between the world's two largest economies as the two sides eye a one-year plan to deepen pragmatic cooperation and resolve outstanding problems.
CHART COURSE FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION
"The two sides shared the view that the most important outcome of this round of dialogue is that it has charted the course for China-U.S. economic cooperation," the Chinese delegation attending the one-day dialogue said in a statement after the conclusion of the talks Wednesday.
The two sides agreed to take "win-win cooperation" as the basic principle for developing bilateral economic relations, "dialogue and consultation" as the basis means to tackle differences, and "regular communication on major economic policies" as the basic way of dialogue and cooperation, the statement said.
Although the high-level talks, co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, ended with no joint statements, Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao described the talks as "very candid, very friendly and very constructive" with positive outcomes.
Both sides "spoke highly" of the significant and balanced outcomes achieved under the 100-day economic cooperation plan, an important consensus reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump during the Mar-a-Lago meeting in April, Zhu said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
Major outcomes of the 100-day plan includes U.S. beef returned to the Chinese market after 14 years of suspensions, and policy restrictions on U.S. liquefied natural gas exports to China began to be loosened.
After the U.S. presidential election last year, many fretted that China-U.S. trade relations would "enter a stormy season of winter and even run the risk of a trade war," Wang recalled Tuesday at a luncheon to the Chinese and U.S. business communities.
But the recent fruitful cooperation between the world's largest two economies has proven that China-U.S. economic cooperation is sailing on the right course, he said.
The CED is one of the four major dialogues the two sides established in April. The first round of the dialogue allows the two sides to focus not only on concrete economic and trade issues, but also on long-term and strategic policies that are important to bilateral economic relations.
ONE-YEAR COOPERATION PLAN
China and the United States discussed a one-year plan of economic cooperation in areas such as macro economy, trade, investment, and global economic governance during the dialogue, Zhu introduced.
Both teams would take follow-up actions to identify issues of the one-year plan, and look forward to determining the substance of an early harvest as soon as possible, he said.
"I don't think there's been enough negotiation to have a lot of concrete results," David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former official with the U.S. Treasury Department, told Xinhua, expecting the two sides to develop specific plans within the year.
He also noted that a high-quality U.S.-China bilateral investment treaty would help U.S. export its services to China and build a foundation for a better bilateral trading relationship. "The U.S. primarily exports services. It's hard to export services if you cannot invest," he said.
China has agreed to further open up its service sector and expand bilateral trade in services with the United States, as the country is shifting its economy toward a growth model powered by consumption, services and innovation.
