[But Chinese officials have an extra incentive
in pledging to loosen their hold over the world’s No. 2 economy, and not just
to the Trump administration. In addition to a trade war that is hitting the
country’s exporters, China’s economy has also been hurt by private sector
business leaders who have become increasingly cautious in recent months about
making new investments.]
By
Keith Bradsher
 |
|
A
container ship in the Chinese port of Qingdao. Chinese exports to the United
States
have
been hurt in an ongoing trade war. Credit Chinatopix, via Associated Press
|
BEIJING
— Top Chinese economic
policymakers promised this weekend that Beijing was ready to open up the
country’s economy to more market-based competition and international trade, in
the latest sign of strong Chinese interest in ending a multibillion-dollar
trade war with the United States.
Senior American officials are scheduled to
come to Beijing in the coming days for trade talks, with Chinese officials then
headed to Washington the following week in an attempt to wrap up a deal.
But Chinese officials have an extra incentive
in pledging to loosen their hold over the world’s No. 2 economy, and not just
to the Trump administration. In addition to a trade war that is hitting the
country’s exporters, China’s economy has also been hurt by private sector business
leaders who have become increasingly cautious in recent months about making new
investments.
The economy has slowed, creating a
self-reinforcing cycle of skepticism that further private investments will be
profitable. State-owned enterprises have claimed a growing share of the loans
available in the economy, a sign that the government may be crowding out the
private businesses that could drive future growth. Xi Jinping, the country’s
leader, has insisted that the Communist Party play an ever-greater role in
corporate decision making and daily life.
The promises of economic opening may sound
familiar. Chinese officials have said for years that they were ready to allow
foreign competitors to enter their market on a more equal footing, with slow
progress. The promises made over the weekend in many cases repeated pledges
that have been made before, such as to open the country’s financial sector more
widely to foreign investment.
The tone of remarks at this weekend’s session
of the China Development Forum, the country’s premier annual economic policy
conference, was nonetheless striking. It appeared to represent a coordinated
effort to present an international image of China as a country moving in the
direction of greater economic openness.
Han Zheng, one of the seven men who run the
country as members of the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, said
that China wanted to keep increasing imports. “We do not strive for a trade
surplus,” he said.
Yi Gang, the governor of the central bank,
said that China wanted more foreign investment. He said the government was
looking for ways to let foreign investors trade derivatives and other financial
instruments so as to limit their exposure to risk. Such a move could mean
loosening Beijing’s controls over the value of its currency — a politically
sensitive subject, and one in which Beijing has a mixed record — and Mr. Yi
offered no details.
Mr. Han, Mr. Yi and other senior officials
took turns extolling a new foreign investment law approved by China’s
legislature on March 15, describing it as a carefully thought-out framework for
making the country a more appealing place to invest.
“China never pays lip service,” said Han
Wenxiu, the executive deputy director of the powerful, policy-setting General
Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission. “We will honor
our words and act on them.”
Foreign lawyers have described the law as
vague, noting that a third of the provisions are no longer than one sentence
each and that domestic companies are still covered by separate legislation.
Chinese officials also emphasized their
willingness to allow foreign banks, securities firms, insurers and asset
management companies to buy larger stakes in their Chinese competitors.
“We can open it up more,” Fang Xinghai, a
vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said at the forum.
“You can compete.”
China has made similar offers ever since
President Trump visited Beijing in November 2017, as part of an effort by
Beijing to woo support from Wall Street during the trade war.
President Trump’s remark on Friday that the
United States would keep its 25 percent tariff imposed last summer on $50
billion a year of Chinese goods drew irritation at the forum. For the United
States to insist on keeping tariffs could “ruin the whole base of this
negotiation,” said Zhu Min, an influential adviser on economic policy issues in
Beijing and a former senior central banker in Beijing and former deputy
managing director of the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
The Trump administration had consistently
taken a hard line for many months on retaining the tariffs on the $50 billion a
year in goods. The administration has been much more willing to discuss
removing a 10 percent tariff imposed last autumn on another $200 billion a year
in goods.
But corporate lobbyists in Washington have
mounted a strenuous campaign for the repeal of all tariffs, including on the
$50 billion in goods. Chinese officials have been hoping that campaign would be
successful.
An extensive interagency effort by civil
servants and political appointees produced the $50 billion list of products.
They came up with product categories in which they did not want the United
States to become more dependent on China. Some products were included for
reasons of national security, like components for nuclear reactors and
aircraft. Other products were on the list because they were deemed important
for economic security, including cars using gasoline, diesel or electricity.
China needs to ramp up car exports because
its home market, by far the world’s largest, has slowed sharply since last
summer, That has left dozens of factories operating at half of capacity or
less. Xi Guohua, the president of China’s FAW Group, a giant automaker, said at
the forum that automakers and their suppliers directly or indirectly employed
12 percent of the country’s work force. Other estimates have been lower.
At a separate gathering on Friday afternoon
that was organized by the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing
research group, former senior American and Chinese officials also expressed
worry about whether the broader relationship between China and the United
States could be quickly fixed even if a trade deal were reached soon.
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers
warned that worries about China had become bipartisan.
“There is a better than even chance that the
Democratic candidate in 2020, in speaking about foreign policy, will criticize
Trump for being too conciliatory toward China,” he said.
He Yafei, a former Chinese vice minister of
foreign affairs, said that a visit to the United States last September had
persuaded him that the climate in Washington had been altered.
“My view of the future is probably the one
that will neither be benign or tragic, but up and down,” he said.
Follow Keith Bradsher on Twitter:
@KeithBradsher.
