BEIJING: Chinese state media on Thursday warned against any “nitpicking” as Beijing portrayed the Phase 1 trade deal with the US and its new commitments to massive purchases of American goods as a boon for China’s economy.
In return for some tariff relief, China agreed to buy at least US$200 bil (RM812.72 bil) in additional US goods and services over two years, including US$32 bil more in imports of US farm products – targets some analysts say may be tough to meet.
In the world’s most populous nation, coverage was tightly managed and the trade deal quickly dropped out of the top 10 trending topics on the Twitter-like Weibo platform.
A person who works in censorship at Chinese social media giant ByteDance and a senior official at a state-backed media outlet said they had been instructed only to use official reports on the deal – guidance that is not unusual for sensitive political news.
Official media and government statements were upbeat with the People’s Daily saying that boosting agricultural imports will “enrich the common people’s dining tables.”
An article in the same publication which bore the pen name “Zhong Sheng,” usually used to express its views on foreign policy, said the pact was in line with China’s reforms, opening up and the push for high-quality growth.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the Phase 1 agreement was good for both countries and the world when asked if he thought the deal was unfair.
China’s Ministry of Commerce, which would normally comment on trade matters, earlier this week cancelled its regular Thursday news briefing.
Robust debate was, however, not encouraged.
An editorial in the Global Times, a tabloid run by the People’s Daily, stated that debating “about who had lost or gained is shallow.”
“We urge individuals and forces to exercise some restraint in their nitpicking of the agreement and bad-mouthing future trade negotiations,” it added.
The deal comes at a welcome time for President Xi Jinping, who faces a slowing economy, unrest in Hong Kong, and the recent re-election of the pro-independence party’s President Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan, said Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing.
“That China hasn’t been defeated completely is already in itself a success,” he added.
Some people on both the US and Chinese sides are not satisfied with the agreement, but that is a good thing, said a post by Taoran Notes, an influential WeChat account run by the Economic Daily.
A deal where just one side was happy would “cause no end of trouble,” it added.
Meanwhile, the central bank said Chinese financial institutions are completely capable of coping with foreign competition as the US$40 tril financial sector is freed up under the initial deal on trade.
The bank will strengthen financial supervision and prevent risks in the process of the sector’s opening, the People’s Bank of China added in a statement.
Under the initial deal, China has promised improved access to its banking, insurance, asset management, payment and fund management services, and agreed to expedite by nine months a previous December 2020 deadline for removing foreign ownership caps on securities firms.
Chinese financial regulators will build up “various firewalls” to improve supervision in corporate governance and market construction amid the financial opening up, and maintain a stable financial system, the central bank said.
Based on the deal, the US will also consider the application from Citic Group, China Reinsurance Group and China International Capital Corp (CICC) for the licensing of operations, the central bank said.
Meanwhile, US Vice President Mike Pence said discussions had already begun on a Phase 2 US-China trade deal, hours after Washington and Beijing signed an initial trade pact. – Jan 16, 2020 Reuters
