A balanced win-win deal the only option for China-U.S. trade, says envoy

China can only accept a balanced and win-win agreement with the United States in the trade negotiations, China's ambassador to France, Zhai Jun, said in a signed article published on Wednesday in the French newspaper Les Echos.

A screenshot of the signed article written by Zhai Jun, China's ambassador to France. [Photo: amb-chine.fr]

In the article entitled "Upholding Multilateralism Requires Courage and Determination", Ambassador Zhai said China will never abandon its core interests and its legitimate right to development in a bid to reach a trade deal with the United States. This, the ambassador said, is China's bottom line principle.

Zhai said the standstill in the China-U.S. trade consultation has cast a shadow on the world economic outlook. The latest report released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says world economic growth is expected to stand at only 3.2 percent in 2019, and 3.4 percent in 2020. This puts it far below the average rate of the past 30 years. And the stocks of many European chip makers and high-tech companies plummeted by nearly 10 percent after America imposed its ban on Huawei.

The ambassador said "China's government is willing to come to an agreement with the United States through trade talks", as a trade war is not in the interests of China, the United States, or the wider world. But, he said, the negotiations must be based on mutual respect and equality.

File photo of Zhai Jun, China's ambassador to France. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

China has always taken concerted action to uphold the rules of free trade and the multilateral trading system, said the ambassador. China has eased access to its market for foreign companies, especially the service industry, and payments for the use of foreign intellectual property have risen from 190 million U.S. dollars in 2001 to 34 billion U.S. dollars last year.

Zhai called on China and Europe to work together to uphold and develop multilateralism. "There have been differences and disputes between China and Europe, however, the two sides, adhering to the principles of mutual respect and equal consultation, reached a high-level joint statement during the recently concluded China-EU summit," said Zhai, "which sends an inspiring and positive message to the world."

Founded in 1908, Les Echos is a financial newspaper with readers ranging from government officials to entrepreneurs and specialists.