Scholar hails US-China trade council as major achievement after Xi-Trump summit
A Hong Kong scholar says the agreement to establish a US-China trade council is a huge achievement after a decade of trade tensions. The deal institutionalises dispute resolution, avoiding reliance on third parties like the WTO, and reflects a constructive strategic stability between the two powers.
A Hong Kong scholar has described the agreement between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump to establish a trade council as a major achievement, saying it institutionalises bilateral trade dispute resolution for the first time in a decade.
Sun Jin, deputy director of the Centre for Public Policy Research at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told RTHK's Look at China programme that the two leaders reached eight areas of consensus during Xi's state visit to the US, including recalling that China and the US were World War II allies.
Sun said the historical reference to their wartime alliance underscored both countries' contributions to the anti-fascist war and their current roles as permanent members of the UN Security Council, the most critical multilateral body for global governance.
He argued that the practical significance of the reference was that, after nearly a decade of trade friction, the US had gained no advantage, making a zero-sum game impossible. The statement, he said, confirmed a constructive and stable strategic relationship that could benefit global governance.
Sun described the agreement to establish and advance a trade council as an unprecedented achievement in the past ten years, representing a willingness to create a permanent institution to resolve trade issues. He said that previous trade volatility was partly due to US threats to withdraw from the World Trade Organization, which created a vicious cycle. As both countries are superpowers, neither could entrust a third party to solve their problems, he added, noting that trade conflicts should normally be mediated through WTO mechanisms.
On the joint statement that Iran should honour its commitment not to develop nuclear weapons, Sun said China was effectively reminding the US that it had violated international law by attacking Iran, while Trump used the statement to present to the American public the idea that Beijing agreed with Washington's position.
Sun noted that bilateral relations had improved significantly, and pointed to two important upcoming events to watch: the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the US midterm elections in November.