China won't be 'pushed around': policy

New white paper reiterates that Beijing does not want a trade war, but is not afraid to defend its principles, still wants fair deal

China, in its latest white paper on trade talks with the United States, has sent a message that it doesn't want to be "pushed around" on any deal terms, a trade policy researcher in Washington said on Monday.

"China's Position on the China-US Economic and Trade Consultations", a report released on Sunday by the Cabinet's Information Office, reiterated that Beijing does not want a trade war but is not afraid of one, that it won't back down on "major issues of principle", and that its only intention is to reach a mutually acceptable deal.

"I wouldn't call the white paper an escalation, but it does seem like China was sending a message that it will not be pushed around," said Simon Lester, the associate director of the Cato Institute's Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies.

Lester has earlier said that US President Donald Trump's approach to the China trade issue is tough but unlikely to be effective.

"It relies exclusively on unilateral tariffs, and as a result, any deal that is reached will not be the best one possible," he said in an article titled, "Trump is wrong to be 'tough' on trade with China", posted on Thursday.

Lester suggested that in negotiations with China, the US and its allies "have to be willing" to give something.

"A one-sided deal is difficult for any country to accept, and this is certainly the case for China, given its history with unequal trade treaties with Western countries," he wrote.

The US has "persisted with exorbitant demands, maintained the additional tariffs imposed since the friction began, and insisted on including mandatory requirements concerning China's sovereign affairs" in the trade deal with China, according to the white paper.

"I don't think the tariffs will help achieve a deal, and my guess is that neither side will hit the brakes unless the economy starts to decline," Lester told China Daily, adding that there is still the possibility of a deal if both sides want one.

Sunday's white paper was the second policy report that the Chinese government has issued on China-US trade, following one released in September.

"I don't think that it represents an escalation as much as it reiterates China's view that the US started the trade war and is therefore responsible for creating what is becoming an increasing gap between the two countries," said Jon Taylor, a professor of political science of the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

The new white paper said China has kept its word throughout 11 rounds of talks since February 2018, and will honor its commitments if a trade agreement is reached. It accused Washington of backtracking three times over the course of the negotiations.

"I still believe that there is a way for both sides to reach a deal that is both sustainable and enforceable," Taylor said. "But that is going to require that the US actually negotiate in good faith and not engage in yet another round of backtracking."

However, he cautioned that it looks like a "difficult path" to get both sides back to the table and an agreement hammered out.

Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow and trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, said a "sustainable and enforceable" deal is possible if both sides fully appreciate the high costs of no deal, in which the world economy will slow, unemployment will rise in affected countries, and consumers will pay higher prices.

"Every trade negotiation entails hard bargains, but both sides have to make concessions that improve the well-being of the partner country compared to a no-deal outcome," Hufbauer said.