On February 5-6, the China-US Economic Working Group held its third meeting in Beijing. (Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China).
There has been a new round of contacts between the world's two largest economies. On February 5-6, the China-US Economic Working Group held its third meeting in Beijing. China and the United States exchanged views on the macroeconomic situation and policies of the two countries, G20 financial cooperation, developing countries' debt, industrial policies and other topics. The Chinese side expressed concern over the US tariffs on China, two-way investment restrictions, and sanctions against Chinese companies. It is worth noting that the exchange was considered to be in-depth, candid, pragmatic and constructive, and raised positive expectations for the improvement of China-US economic and trade relations.
This is the first meeting of the U.S.-China Economic Working Group this year, and the first time that the communication mechanism has held face-to-face meetings in Beijing. At this meeting, the two sides agreed to continue to maintain communication. This shows that since the establishment of the working group in the economic and financial fields between China and the United States in September 2023, the relevant communication mechanism has been relatively stable, and the exchanges and dialogues between the two sides have been relatively smooth. Through three rounds of dialogue, the two countries have reached consensus on a number of major issues. Economic and trade relations are the "ballast stone" of China-US relations, and they are also the areas where the interests of the two countries converge the most and the potential cooperation is the widest. Dialogue and communication between the two sides on major macroeconomic issues such as finance, economic development, and structural adjustment will help China and the United States eliminate misunderstandings, seek consensus, and manage differences at the macro level, and contribute to the stability and positive development of the global macroeconomic situation.
The U.S.-China Economic Dialogue is touching on a wider range of issues. For example, the issue of G20 financial cooperation was mentioned at this meeting. Over the past few years, the G20 Financial Cooperation Mechanism has achieved some important results in recent years. In October 2021, the G20 Rome Summit issued a declaration calling on all parties to develop implementation rules as soon as possible under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) and G20 inclusive framework on base erosion and profit shifting. This is supported by 136 countries and jurisdictions around the world, in which the United States and China play an important role, and the U.S.-China Economic Working Group meeting explicitly talked about G20 financial cooperation, indicating that the two sides will further strengthen cooperation in this area. China and the United States have played an important role in global governance, and there is a need and possibility for further cooperation on issues such as climate change, capacity building and reform of international financial institutions, and debt to developing countries.
The U.S.-China Economic Dialogue needs to be honest and pragmatic. In their respective press releases, the Chinese and U.S. sides invariably mentioned the word "candid", for example, the Chinese side expressed concern about the US imposition of tariffs on China, two-way investment restrictions, sanctions and suppression of Chinese companies. The more frank the attitude, the more conducive it is to building mutual trust, which is also in line with the "original intention" of the two sides to establish the working group mechanism. According to an analysis by the New York Times, the purpose of the establishment of the Sino-US Economic Working Group is precisely to "prevent misunderstandings between China and the United States from escalating into economic warfare." Eswar Prasad, former head of the IMF's China Department and professor of policy at Cornell University, said: "The meeting is of considerable significance in preventing further escalation of hostilities, especially at a time when U.S. rhetoric is heating up. ”
In the past few years, due to the influence of the domestic political environment of the United States and the wrong policies of the United States, there have been twists and turns in Sino-US economic and trade relations, but this has not changed the pattern of highly complementary economic structures and closely intertwined interests between China and the United States. The gradual stabilization of the mechanism of the Economic Working Group is of great significance to the continued dialogue between China and the United States in the economic and trade fields in the future. The US should not continue to "say one thing and do another" in the economic and trade fields, and should not abuse export control measures against China and undermine normal economic and trade exchanges between China and the United States under the guise of "de-risking", because mutual benefit and win-win results are the essential characteristics of China-US relations, and dialogue and cooperation are the only correct choice for the two countries. (Nie Shuyi).
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