A senior US senator, leading the first congressional trip to China in four years, yesterday said that the US does not want to cut economic ties with the world’s second-largest economy, but seeks a level playing field so that US companies can compete freely.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and five other senators arrived in Shanghai earlier in the day on a three-country tour that is to also take them to South Korea and Japan. The trip comes amid a sharp deterioration in relations between the US and China and as officials try to lay the groundwork for a possible meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next month.
“We are prepared to compete, but we do not seek to conflict,” Schumer told Chinese Communist Party Secretary of Shanghai Chen Jining (陳吉寧) shortly after the delegation’s arrival.
Photo: AFP
Chen avoided specific issues in his public remarks, saying that a healthy and stable China-US relationship would benefit the entire world.
Noting the presence of 5,640 US companies in Shanghai, he said he is happy to have the opportunity to discuss how to promote trade at a local level.
The US has placed tariff and other trade restrictions on China over national security, human rights and other concerns, and blocked access to advanced semiconductors and other key technologies. China has accused the US of seeking to contain its economic development as it emerges as a global power and potential threat to the US-led international order.
Schumer said the US wants Chinese to have increased economic opportunities, but that many Americans feel China does not treat US companies fairly.
“We believe we need reciprocity allowing American companies to compete as freely in China as Chinese companies are able to compete here,” he said.
Schumer also raised the issue of Chinese companies that have stopped making fentanyl, but which the US government says continue to supply the ingredients for production of the opioid in Mexico.
“They are fueling the fentanyl crisis that is poisoning communities across the United States,” he said. “Every one of us knows families who have lost young men and women to fentanyl.”
China has said that it maintains strict control of the chemicals to ensure they are not exported for illegal purposes and that the US should stop shifting the blame for its failure to curb drug abuse.
In a reminder of the tensions between the two countries, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce yesterday said that new US restrictions placed on 42 Chinese companies were “a typical act of economic coercion and unilateral bullying.”
The US Department of Commerce on Friday added the Chinese companies and seven others to its entity list.
It said the companies supplied “US-origin” semiconductors that Russia uses for missile guidance systems and drones in the war against Ukraine.
US companies cannot export to organizations on the entity list without obtaining a special license.
A Chinese international relations expert said that Schumer’s visit is a sign of improvement in China-US relations.
The senators hope to meet Xi in Beijing during their visit.
“If the talks proceed well, there is the possibility that President Xi will meet Schumer,” said Wang Yiwei (王義桅), director of Renmin University’s Institute of International Affairs. “If their meeting is realized, the chances for a Xi-Biden meeting will become greater.”
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