>>REAL-TIME UPDATES IN THE WIRE. CLICK HERE<<<
China is willing to have more dialogues over trade issues with the US, said Chinese Premier Li Qiang when meeting with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Beijing on Tuesday, the second day of the US trade chief’s China visit.
Li called for more concrete efforts from the US side to push forward the sound development of relations between China and the US, the world’s two largest economies, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Mutual respect, peaceful co-existence and win-win cooperation are the correct ways for China and the US to get along, Li said, noting that the essence of China-US economic and trade relations is mutual benefit and win-win results.
“It is hoped that the US will meet China halfway,” the Chinese premier said.
The high-level meeting comes after Raimondo’s several “candid and constructive” talks with top Chinese officials, including Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
During Raimondo’s talks with He, the two agreed to maintain communication and support practical cooperation between enterprises of the two countries.
After a roughly four-hour-and-half talk between Commerce Minister Wang and Raimondo, the two sides announced plans to establish a new trade communication channel, including a working group consisting of Chinese and US officials and business representatives to seek solutions on specific trade issues.
The first exchange on the communication mechanism for export controls was scheduled be held on Tuesday in Beijing, but no details on the talks were released as of press time.
In a fresh move on Tuesday, China’s Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping met with Raimondo in Beijing and agreed to hold a high-level tourism dialogue in the first half of 2024 to boost the travel recovery between the two countries.
The tourism industry should be one of the areas where the two countries will open up to each other in the next step. China and the US have increased the number of flights, and will add more, He said.
In early August, the US and China agreed to double the number of passenger flights currently permitted for air carriers to fly between the two countries.
“It is hoped that the US will work with China to further increase direct flights between the two countries, adjust travel alerts against going to China as soon as possible, facilitate Chinese citizens to apply for visas to the US, stop unreasonable interrogation and harassment of Chinese citizens and groups going to the US, and exchange visits for tourists from the two countries to create better conditions,” the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement Tuesday.
During talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Raimondo said that the Biden administration has no intention of curbing China’s development and does not seek to “decouple” from China. It is willing to maintain communication with China, maintain normal economic and trade relations between the US and China, and promote the stable development of bilateral relations, according to Xinhua.