High-level seminar set to discuss Sino-US frictions

A leading Chinese think tank will invite a group of US former senior officials and business leaders from some of the world's top enterprises to a specially arranged seminar this weekend in Beijing, to share their thoughts on Sino-US trade tensions and economic development threats.

The two-day event will start on Sept 16. It is expected to be a platform at which the Chinese government and non-official delegates could communicate with the outside world about how to deal with new challenges, said Lu Mai, vice-chairman and secretary-general of the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF), the organizer of the seminar.

"We hope the participants could better understand China's current development and our views on key issues, including Sino-US trade friction," Lu said at a news conference on Tuesday.

He disclosed that the intention to hold this seminar was mainly because of the recent global situation.

It will also look at further promoting China's new policies and measures on reform and opening-up. "How the Chinese economy will perform in the second half this year will be one of the hot topics at the seminar," Lu added.

Vice-Minister of Finance Liao Min, former finance minister Lou Jiwei, and central bank monetary policy committee member Liu Shijin are on the list of Chinese representatives. US representatives who will give speeches at the two-day seminar include former World Bank president Robert Zoellick, former US Treasury secretary Robert Rubin, and former US Federal Reserve vice-chairman Stanley Fischer. Executives from Cohen Group, Intel and BMW Group will also join the event.

The seminar was specially arranged for the first time as an additional session of the foundation's annual flagship event the China Development Forum (CDF). This year, the CDF was held from March 24 to March 26. Tim Cook, CEO of California-based Apple Inc, co-chaired the forum.

With the theme of "China in the New Era", it addressed various topics, including high-quality development, fiscal and tax system reform, supply-side structural reform and financial policies, opening up on all fronts, China's manufacturing in the high-quality development stage, innovation and future development.

The Chinese government confirmed on Thursday that it received an invitation from the United States for trade talks, after US President Donald Trump's threat to impose punitive tariffs on all Chinese exports to the US.

Broader channels of communication between the two countries are necessary, officially or unofficially, in any form, and the two sides' voices should be heard for each other, said analysts.

"Although the outcome of any possible trade talks remains uncertain, the meeting may be a constructive step to easing tensions between the world's two largest economies," said Lukman Otunuga, a research analyst at FXTM, a global foreign exchange platform.