Archive for ‘Vice Premier Liu He’

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01/10/2019

Foreign experts’ support will not be forgotten: Chinese premier

CHINA-BEIJING-LI KEQIANG-FRIENDSHIP AWARD-MEETING (CN)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with a group of foreign experts who received the Friendship Award, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts, at the Great Hall of People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2019. The meeting was also attended by vice premier Han Zheng. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) — Chinese people will not forget foreign experts’ support and assistance to China’s development over the 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

Li made the remarks Monday when meeting at the Great Hall of the People with a group of foreign experts who received the Friendship Award, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China.

The meeting was also attended by vice premiers Han Zheng and Liu He and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Speaking highly of the awardees’ contributions to China, Li said that over the past 70 years, some foreign experts made significant efforts to help China overcome early difficulties, while some introduced advanced technologies, experience and management concepts to China since the beginning of the country’s reform and opening-up.

He noted that China will continue to expand international cooperation in technological innovation, further open up sci-tech projects to foreign experts and encourage them to lead and take part in the country’s sci-tech programs.

China will pursue a more proactive, open and effective policy on training competent professionals, provide more convenience for foreign experts in all respects and create a market-based, legalized and international business environment, Li said.

“We welcome more foreign talent and enterprises to China to start businesses and innovate,” he continued.

The awardees thanked Li and the Chinese government, delivered congratulations on the PRC’s 70th founding anniversary and said they will continue to play a positive part in China’s modernization and the development and progress of the human society.

They then attended a reception held Monday evening at the Great Hall of the People to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC.

A total of 100 foreign experts from 31 countries received the Friendship Award this year.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, advanced technologies, Chinese premier Li Keqiang, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Friendship Award, Great Hall of the People, modernization, sci-tech programs, technological innovation, Uncategorized, Vice Premier Han Zheng, Vice Premier Liu He | Leave a Comment »

08/05/2019

Exclusive: China backtracked on nearly all aspects of U.S. trade deal – sources

The document was riddled with reversals by China that undermined core U.S. demands, the sources told Reuters.

In each of the seven chapters of the draft trade deal, China had deleted its commitments to change laws to resolve core complaints that caused the United States to launch a trade war: theft of U.S. intellectual property and trade secrets; forced technology transfers; competition policy; access to financial services; and currency manipulation.

U.S. President Donald Trump responded in a tweet on Sunday vowing to raise tariffs on $200 billion (153 billion pounds) worth of Chinese goods from 10 to 25 percent on Friday – timed to land in the middle of a scheduled visit by China’s Vice Premier Liu He to Washington to continue trade talks.

The stripping of binding legal language from the draft struck directly at the highest priority of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer – who views changes to Chinese laws as essential to verifying compliance after years of what U.S. officials have called empty reform promises.

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Lighthizer has pushed hard for an enforcement regime more like those used for punitive economic sanctions – such as those imposed on North Korea or Iran – than a typical trade deal.

“This undermines the core architecture of the deal,” said a Washington-based source with knowledge of the talks.

“PROCESS OF NEGOTIATION”

Spokespeople for the White House, the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a briefing on Wednesday that working out disagreements over trade was a “process of negotiation” and that China was not “avoiding problems”.

Geng referred specific questions on the trade talks to the Commerce Ministry, which did not respond immediately to faxed questions from Reuters.
Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were taken aback at the extent of the changes in the draft. The two cabinet officials on Monday told reporters that Chinese backtracking had prompted Trump’s tariff order but did not provide details on the depth and breadth of the revisions.
Liu last week told Lighthizer and Mnuchin that they needed to trust China to fulfil its pledges through administrative and regulatory changes, two of the sources said. Both Mnuchin and Lighthizer considered that unacceptable, given China’s history of failing to fulfil reform pledges.
One private-sector source briefed on the talks said the last round of negotiations had gone very poorly because “China got greedy”.
“China reneged on a dozen things, if not more … The talks were so bad that the real surprise is that it took Trump until Sunday to blow up,” the source said.
“After 20 years of having their way with the U.S., China still appears to be miscalculating with this administration.”
FURTHER TALKS THIS WEEK
The rapid deterioration of negotiations rattled global stock markets, bonds and commodities this week. Until Sunday, markets had priced in the expectation that officials from the two countries were close to striking a deal.
Investors and analysts questioned whether Trump’s tweet was a negotiating ploy to wring more concessions from China. The sources told Reuters the extent of the setbacks in the revised text were serious and that Trump’s response was not merely a negotiating strategy.
Chinese negotiators said they couldn’t touch the laws, said one of the government sources, calling the changes “major.”
Changing any law in China requires a unique set of processes that can’t be navigated quickly, said a Chinese official familiar with the talks. The official disputed the assertion that China was backtracking on its promises, adding that U.S. demands were becoming more “harsh” and the path to a deal more “narrow” as the negotiations drag on.
Liu is set to arrive in Washington on Thursday for two days of talks that just last week were widely seen as pivotal – a possible last round before a historic trade deal. Now, U.S. officials have little hope that Liu will come bearing any offer that can get talks back on track, said two of the sources.

 

The administration said the latest tariff escalation would take effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday (0401 GMT), hiking levees on Chinese products such as internet modems and routers, printed circuit boards, vacuum cleaners and furniture.
The Chinese reversal may give China hawks in the Trump administration, including Lighthizer, an opening to take a harder stance.
Mnuchin – who has been more open to a deal with improved market access, and at times clashed with Lighthizer – appeared in sync with Lighthizer in describing the changes to reporters on Monday, while still leaving open the possibility that new tariffs could be averted with a deal.
Trump’s tweets left no room for backing down, and Lighthizer made it clear that, despite continuing talks, “come Friday, there will be tariffs in place.”
Source: Reuters

Posted in China backtracked, chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Chinese Vice Premier, Geng Shuang, Robert Lighthizer, Steven Mnuchin, Tariff, Trump’s tweets, U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. trade deal, U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Uncategorized, Vice Premier Liu He, Washington, White House | Leave a Comment »

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