China, Trump talk up prospects for US-China collaboration

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s top diplomat said on Tuesday he hoped the incoming Trump administration would “make the right choice” and work with Beijing, hours after Donald Trump told reporters the COVID-19 pandemic had strained his relationship with “friend” Xi Jinping.

“We hope the new U.S. administration will make the right choice and work with China in a mutually-beneficial manner to remove disruptions and overcome obstacles,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a forum in Beijing, according to a statement from his ministry.

The remarks followed President-elect Trump telling his first news conference since his election victory six weeks ago that Chinese President Xi Jinping had been a friend of his and that “he is an amazing guy” but that relations had been strained.

“We had a very good relationship until COVID,” Trump told reporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday when asked whether Xi would attend his inauguration. “COVID didn’t end the relationship, but it was a bridge too far for me.”

When Joe Biden was sworn in as U.S. president in January 2021, China said it wanted to cooperate with the new administration and imposed sanctions on former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 27 other top officials previously under Trump.

The two superpowers have been setting out their positions ahead of Trump’s return to the White House. His first term resulted in a trade war that uprooted global supply chains and hurt almost every economy as inflation and borrowing costs shot up. 

Trump has indicated he plans to pick up where he left off with Beijing, and has vowed to impose an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods to push China to do more to stop fentanyl flows into the U.S.

He also previously pledged to end China’s most-favoured-nation trading status and slap tariffs on Chinese imports in excess of 60% – much higher than those imposed during his first term.

In response, China is seeking to amass bargaining chips to kick off talks with a new U.S. administration on contentious aspects of bilateral ties, including trade and investment, and science and technology, analysts say.

MISSING STATEMENT

The Jan. 20, 2021, statement on China’s sanctions on the former 28 Trump officials is also no longer found on the website of the Chinese foreign ministry. Asked to comment at a regular news conference on Tuesday, spokesperson Lin Jian said he had “no information to offer.”

“China and the United States can together solve all of the problems of the world, if you think about,” Trump said. “So it’s very important, and he was a friend of mine.” 

That said, Trump has nominated China hard-liners to key diplomatic and economic roles in his administration, signalling his policy towards the U.S.’ main strategic rival could be even more confrontational than during his first term.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who has been picked by Trump to be the next secretary of state, is under sanctions from China imposed in 2020. It is unclear how the top China hawk in the Senate would engage with Beijing given the sanctions.

China is equally ready to go toe-to-toe with the Trump administration. 

Wang told delegates that Beijing “firmly opposes the illegal and unreasonable suppression of China by the U.S. and, in particular, must respond firmly and forcefully to the U.S.’ brutal interference in China’s internal affairs, such as Taiwan.”

(This story has been refiled to say ‘out’, instead of ‘our’, in paragraph 6)