China says U.S. accusations of unfair trade practices 'groundless'

 

FILE PHOTO: Shipping containers are seen at a port in Shanghai, China July 10, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - China rejected fresh U.S. accusations of perpetuating "unfair" trade practices and urged Washington on Thursday to stop making provocations, showing little sign of backing down days ahead a high-stakes meeting between leaders from both countries.

 

President Xi Jinping is due to hold talks with U.S President Donald Trump during a G20 summit in Argentina at the end of the month, with the rest of the world hoping they can find a way to de-escalate a trade war that is threatening the global economy.

 

China's commerce ministry said it is deeply concerned by a report issued by the U.S. administration this week, which said China had failed to alter its "unfair" practices.

 

"The U.S side made new groundless accusations against the Chinese side, and China finds it totally unacceptable," Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters at a news conference in Beijing.

 

The findings were issued in an update of the U.S. Trade Representative's "Section 301" investigation, which looks into China's intellectual property and technology transfer policies and has sparked U.S. tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods that later ballooned to $250 billion.

 

Gao said the report reflects U.S. unilateralism in violation of World Trade Organization rules.

 

"We hope the United States will drop the words and behaviors that damage bilateral economic and trade relations and adopt a constructive attitude," Gao said.

 

The ministry is also evaluating the potential impact from a separate U.S. proposal this week to increase control over technology exports, and said it would take the necessary steps to uphold Chinese firms' legitimate interests.

 

Citing security concerns, the U.S. government on Monday proposed stepping up scrutiny over technology exports in 14 key high-tech areas including artificial intelligence and microprocessor technology, a move that many analysts view as directly targeting China.

 

A 30-day public consultation period on the proposal to include those sectors in its broader export control regime is underway and will end on Dec. 19, according to a document published on the U.S. government's Federal Register on Monday.

 

"We are evaluating the measures that the United States may take," Gao said, stressing that Washington's generalization of the concept on national security would only result in unnecessary barriers and damage trade.

 

"China will pay close attention to the relevant U.S. legislation and take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises as appropriate," he said.

 

Washington is demanding Beijing to improve market access and intellectual property protections for U.S. companies, cut industrial subsidies and slash a $375 billion trade gap. Trump has imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports to force concessions.

 

The U.S. tariff rate on $200 billion in Chinese goods is set to increase to 25 percent from 10 percent on Jan. 1. Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports - about $267 billion more in goods - if Beijing fails to address U.S. demands.

 

(Reporting by Yawen Chen and Ryan Woo; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-23

While I don't agree with how Trump is handling the situation, the accusations against China are true and verifiable.

It is unfair to China.....they just don't really understand what balance of trade means.....when it affects them!

Western exploitation of Chinese slave labor needs to stop.... buy locally produced items... that’ll do it.

 

 

Its an an issue that needs to be fixed let’s try to do it in a way both sides profit 

The Chinese are far from innocent in their trade practices. But the West willingly gave up its manufacturing expertise.

 

Interesting that the US military suppliers have also been buying from China, seems that certain required parts can no longer be manufactured in America.

Made in China is everywhere

Edited November 23, 20187 yr by riclag

2 hours ago, Rancid said:

The Chinese are far from innocent in their trade practices. But the West willingly gave up its manufacturing expertise.

 

Interesting that the US military suppliers have also been buying from China, seems that certain required parts can no longer be manufactured in America.

I agree.  If the US companies don't agree with China, then don't make it there, pressure their contract manufacturers to make the goods elsewhere. Its the fact that these corporations want to make more money, they settle for an exchange of info in return for access to the market.

 

 

2 hours ago, mike324 said:

I agree.  If the US companies don't agree with China, then don't make it there, pressure their contract manufacturers to make the goods elsewhere. Its the fact that these corporations want to make more money, they settle for an exchange of info in return for access to the market.

 

 

This needs some background. Back some years ago, American and other Western companies did not mind too much sharing their Intellectual Property with Chinese because they never thought that the Chinese would catch up so quickly. But the trouble is that for years now, if you invested in China, the condition has been for years that you had to share your Intellectual Property.

Now the problem is that many of these companies are locked in and some have trouble getting their profits out. In addition, the big issue now is with the really high-tech stuff, such as artificial intelligence, is not with sharing IP but with two issues - the Chinese reverse-engineering products and working out in part what your IP is and second, IP piracy, by paying employees of companies in the USA and Western countries to provide the entry ways into IP that facilitates the reverse engineering.

This is why, rather late in the day, the Americans now considering not allowing the export to China of certain products. In addition, there are apparently moves to keep out Chinese electronics because of built-in snoop chips in such items as mother boards in servers.

So now you have two problems - what to do with an American company that has a large investment in China but cannot repatriate its profits and will now be subject to tariffs and worse. And a product export ban to a market with 1.5 billion people. They can do without as they have their own stuff, their own Google, Facebook etc. Don't need ours. Can we do without them? 

China absolutely employs unfair trading practices from keeping foreign business from accessing the Chinese home market, to copying trademarked and patented products. Of course foreign companies are partially to blame as they rushed to move manufacturing to China. They were forced to share their technology and now they complain. Kind of like leaving a million dollars on the kitchen table, the doors unlocked, scheduling a renovation, then going away on vacation. China like Russia can deny, deny, deny, they are guilty.

It’s best not to flat out deny what everyone knows is true