[GMW.CN]Wang Xiaosong: Coordinating Benefits On the Basis of Adhering to the Bottom Line

Since the Sino-US economic and trade frictions, the opposition in the United States has continued to rise. On the one hand, many American economists have criticized the US government's trade policy against the law of economic development. Under the background of deepening economic globalization and the bilateral interests of China and the United States, the United States intends to provoke a trade war, which will not only damage self-interests, but also undermine the healthy growth of global value chains, undermine the global multilateral trading system and the global economic recovery process. On the other hand, the various industries in the United States affected by Sino-US economic and trade frictions have strongly protested against the US government's trade protection policy. At the time of the economic and trade frictions just escalated, Boeing Company warned on the official website that the US government to initiate a trade war will exert negative impact on the whole aviation industry. Since then, not only agricultural producers such as soybean growers and aquatic product farmers have expressed strong dissatisfaction with the behavior of the US government, manufacturers such as ships and automobiles have also strongly criticized US trade policies. More importantly, American people's opposition to the government's trade war has continued to rise. Some groups have found that Sino-US economic and trade frictions have damaged their own welfare, and it is expected that Sino-US trade friction will have more negative impacts in the future. Therefore, they hope that bilateral trade between China and the United States will return to normal track. This sentiment is transmitted to the political realm, which will affect the Republican Party's prospects in the midterm elections, which in turn will affect the possibility of Trump's re-election as a president two years later, and thus exert tremendous pressure on the current US government. In fact, according to contacts and exchanges with the United States, we find that the vast majority of the US group is currently opposed to trade wars, and only the US government is determined to follow this path.

Based on the current attitudes and sentiments from all walks of life in the United States, as well as the negative impact of the US economy on Sino-US trade frictions, and the imminent US mid-term elections, China and the United States are likely to return to the negotiating table to resolve the differences and conflicts in the economic and trade fields.

Coordinating Sino-US bilateral interests on the basis of adhering to the bottom line

Sino-US relations should always adhere to cooperation and win-win, and achieve mutual benefit. In the process of economic globalization, the interests of China and the United States are deeply intertwined and cannot be separated from each other. If the Sino-US economic and trade relations are completely broken, it will have a negative impact on the economic development of the two countries and even the global economic development. In fact, the attitude of the Chinese government is very clear, that is, China is not willing to fight but is not afraid of fighting trade wars. If necessary, it will take countermeasures. Therefore, in the process of future exchanges between China and the United States, we must still adhere to cooperation and win-win principles. China will not and cannot unreasonably transfer its legitimate economic interests, but at the same time it will emphasize the sharing of interests in economic and trade cooperation, accelerate the marketization process in many fields, and further cooperate with the US and other trading partners in the process of deepening reform and opening up. The United States should also respect China's development path and development rights, and work toward the Chinese side to achieve mutual benefit.

We will jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system and promote economic globalization in a more open, inclusive, benifitial, balanced, and win-win direction. With the deepening of economic globalization, the new international division of labor characterized by global value chains has brought about changes in the global interest pattern. The de-industrialization process of Western developed countries has also led to the deterioration of income distribution within these countries. The intertwined factors have caused the anti-globalization trend to spread in developed economies. Some countries have expressed their dissatisfaction with the current international economic and trade rules and sought to rebuild the rules. At present, advanced economies such as the United States are trying to incorporate more stringent regulations into the WTO multilateral rules system, such as requiring member states to raise standards for environmental protection, labor, and intellectual property protection, further clarifying the definition and standard of subsidies, and expanding the level of openness of the field of service trade. If the multilateral system is formulated in full accordance with the standards of developed countries, it will have a greater impact on developing countries. Although the future direction of the multilateral system is clear, it needs to consider the realities of developing countries and give certain buffer and transition deadlines to fully safeguard their interests. As a large developing country, China should give full play to its own advantages, strive to fully grasp the right to speak, dare to take responsibility in the process of re-structuring rules, and actively participate in the formulation of rules so that the new generation of international economic and trade rules can take into account the interests of countries at different stages of development.

Efforts will be made to enhance the understanding and recognition from China and the United States, and to resolve and control differences and conflicts on the basis of seeking common ground while reserving differences. Backtracking to the source, directly accusing China and indicating that the main documents for launching the trade war were the 301 investigation report issued by the US Trade Representative Office in March and the White House’s June issue entitled “How China’s Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World". The intention of these two reports is to provide a basis for the US to initiate the legality of the trade war against China. In fact, it reflects that the United States regards China as the main competitor of the future, and also reflects the US disapproval of China's economic development model. By carefully reading the report, the specific content of the US's accusation can be divided into three categories. One is distorted facts, illogical paradoxes, and accusations of touching China's bottom line; one is due to differences in values, the US has misunderstood China's development path; the other is China's current problems still pointed out by the US, which is also the direction of China's efforts to deepen reform and expand opening up in the future. The author summarizes the coping strategies as “holding the bottom line”, “eliminating misunderstandings” and “facing the problem”. We must resolutely refute and argue with the US public opinion, restore China's efforts and great achievements in promoting trade liberalization and safeguarding the multilateral system; communicate on some misunderstandings between the two sides should be deepened on the basis of adherence to principles, conduct an authoritative, meticulous and scientific interpretation of China's development, conduct rational and powerful corrections on the wrong interpretation of the US, and strive to enhance the understanding and recognition of both China and the United States; for our own problems, China should make mid and long term reform plans, with the goal of eliminate and control differences and conflicts, properly solve the frictions and disputes on the fields of economic and trade, creating favorable external trade environment and win larger development space for future development.