As the United States and China wrapped up talks this week touting bilateral cooperation on strategic and economic issues, many in the USA business community say the annual dialogue is delivering diminishing returns in resolving commercial disputes.
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US officials are pressing Beijing to ease market access for financial services, an area where foreign business groups complain China is trying to shield its companies in violation of free-trade commitments.
Mr. Lew also said Beijing promised to work to wind down “zombie companies”-those businesses that are unprofitable but kept afloat and whose production adds to the glut of industrial goods on global markets”.
“The question of excess capacity is one that literally has an enormous effect on global markets for things like steel and aluminum, and we’re seeing distortions in global markets because of excess capacity”.
USA and Chinese officials agreed to give the yuan a foothold in America while sparring over how to address excess capacity in China’s steel and aluminum industries, illustrating both the progress being made and hurdles that remain in their economic relationship.
Please Wait while comments are loading. In May, the U.S. launched its third “freedom of navigation” operation, in the disputed Spratly Islands, followed by the flight of a U.S. EP-3 Aries surveillance aircraft, which was challenged by two Chinese fighter jets.
Kerry said he “reiterated America’s fundamental support for negotiations and a peaceful resolution based on the rule of law, as well as our concern about any unilateral steps by any party”. The U.S. has said it will not take sides in the rival claims to all or part of the region by countries including China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
The U.S. agenda included pressing Beijing to move faster in shrinking its bloated industries including steel, which its trading partners complain is flooding their markets with unfairly cheap exports.
“We should be ambitious, in building that tower”, Kerry said Monday.
The issue of China’s excessive dumping of cheap steel in American and other worldwide markets was one of the main topics of discussion at the high-profile annual bilateral summit.
But Beijing’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi said the United States should butt out of disputes that were a long way from its shores, including an global arbitration case brought by the Philippines.
The back and forth between the US and China, mirrored China’s vocal response in the SCS to President Barack Obama’s “Pivot to Asia” doctrine, which plans to position almost 60 per cent of USA military forces in the Pacific. And while addressing economic frustrations has always been a key component of the talks, the overall environment in China has gradually been worsening.
Chinese President Xi Jinping echoed that theme in a meeting later with Kerry and Lew.
Lew praised China for promising to open its financial sector wider to US companies. The law puts foreign advocacy groups under direct police supervision, forcing them to state the sources of their funding and explain how budgets are spent.
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“China has every right to uphold its territorial sovereignty and lawful and legitimate maritime entitlements”, State Councilor Yang Jiechi said. Groups seen as subverting the state can be banned. “Foreign NGOs’ activities in China will not face any obstruction”.
