On Wednesday, China called on the US to show “respect” in their trade dispute and rejected US President Donald Trump’s claims that it was meddling in the US mid-term elections by taking aim at his political base.
The comments follow a series of tweets claiming Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs on US goods were seeking to influence knife-edge mid-term congressional elections in November.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang rejected the claims, saying: “Anyone who has some knowledge of China’s diplomacy will know that we will not interfere in other countries’ domestic affairs. We don’t want others to interfere in our domestic politics, and we will not interfere in the domestic politics of others.”
Accusations of election meddling are a very sensitive topic in the US, given the political maelstrom over Russia’s alleged intervention to support Trump in the 2016 presidential vote.
China, additionally rejected claims — made by Trump in the past — that it has manipulated the value of the yuan down to compensate for the effect of US tariffs on its exports. “China will never rely on the depreciation of the renminbi (yuan) to stimulate exports, because a one-way depreciation of the renminbi exchange rate will have more disadvantages than advantages,” Premier Li Keqiang told an economic forum.
On Monday , the US announced that it would push ahead with tariffs on $200bn in Chinese goods, in addition to $50bn already targeted. This means the additional levies will hit more than half of US goods from China which is its largest source of imports.
After China retaliated on Tuesday with duties on $60bn of American products, Trump accused China of trying to sway the elections.
“China has openly stated that they are actively trying to impact and change our election by attacking our farmers, ranchers and industrial workers because of their loyalty to me,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “China has been taking advantage of the United States on Trade for many years. They also know that I am the one that knows how to stop it,” he added, warning of a “great and fast economic retaliation” if China targets American farmers and industrial workers.
Some of the items included in the new tariffs are; daily necessities, such as diapers and furniture and others such as solar panels and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The US also accused China of seeking global industrial dominance through industrial espionage and through forced transfers of technology from foreign companies; state-sponsored corporate acquisitions; illicit market interventions; subsidies and dumping.
Despite the increasing trade tensions, last week Washington asked China for a new round of trade talks led by US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin.
-AFP