Chinese Trade Scholars Welcome USTR Tai's Message
Two Chinese scholars specializing in international trade said they found U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's Oct. 4 speech (see 2110040008) encouraging, even though she criticized Chinese adherence to market principles and the effect that has on companies around the world.
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Tu Xinquan, executive dean of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, told a Center for Strategic and International Studies moderator that the fact that Tai said she doesn't support decoupling is important. "I think [decoupling] is a very great concern for China. And she used the words ‘durable coexistence' and ‘recouple’. These words are new, but I think are positive."
Wang Yong, who studies trade at the Center for American Studies at Peking University, said during the Oct. 5 panel that he is happy that her speech recognized the importance of the bilateral commercial relationship, and that she's seeking renewed dialogue about the phase one trade agreement. He said it would be important for Americans to consider the impact of the pandemic on implementing the agreement.
Wang said that he would like both China and the U.S. to stop linking national security and trade so often, and that trade should be depoliticized. Wang argued that China is continuing to open its market, and that the request to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership suggests China is willing to open more.
"I believe by the end of this year, China might release a very important political document on the spirit of reform and opening up," he said. "I hope our American friends should pay attention to it."
Both men said Tai should turn to the World Trade Organization to work out the differences that arise because of their very different economic systems. But Tu said that the U.S. is becoming more like China, in that it is hoping to spend $50 billion to support its semiconductor industry. "In recent years, the role of the state has become more and more important in many economies, not only in China," he said. "We should not kind of demonize the role of the state in the economy."
Tu said that Section 301 does not adhere to WTO rules, and that if countries think the WTO needs more disciplines, there need to be more discussions about that in Geneva. "Otherwise, these rules are not legitimate enough to persuade, to force, economies, including China, to follow them," he said.