How ping-pong diplomacy broke the mold

Engaging each other

In a rapidly changing city, the Shanghai Disney Resort and electric vehicle giant Tesla's first overseas factory are among the signature facilities that best represent Sino-US mutual economic and cultural engagement.

The Disney venue has become the fastest-growing of the entertainment company's parks worldwide, and early this year it confirmed plans for new facilities under the theme of the Disney animation hit Zootopia.

On Aug 7, Tesla announced on Sina Weibo that construction of its factory in Shanghai was proceeding smoothly, and estimated that production could start at the end of the year.

Shanghai was also in the media spotlight in July, when it hosted the 12th round of the China-US high-level economic and trade consultations.

It was the first time the negotiations had been held in a city other than the two nations' capitals — Beijing and Washington. Some media commentators and observers said the negotiators were earnestly seeking breakthroughs and needed "more-enabling circumstances".

According to Chinese media reports, the Xijiao State Guest Hotel, which hosted the talks between Jiang and Bush in 2001, was the main venue for the discussions chaired by Vice-Premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Light hizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on July 30 and 31.

The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that the two sides had "candid, efficient and constructive in-depth exchanges" on major issues of common concern, and they discussed China buying US agricultural produce.

It was not the first time Shanghai had witnessed the two countries pushing ahead with talks on a critical economic and trade agenda.

In June 2001, negotiators from both sides for China's accession to the World Trade Organization met as Shanghai hosted the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.

Shi Guangsheng, foreign trade minister at the time, said they "embarked on enduring negotiations" and reached key consensus on China's agricultural subsidies.

This played a vital role in resolving the issues that had not been settled in multilateral negotiations, Shi told the Shanghai newspaper Jiefang Daily in 2017.

China has been the US' top trading partner since 2015, and two-way investment has reached nearly $160 billion.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in July, Shi said there was still considerable room for growth in this regard, and the bilateral trade friction was having an impact on the US which "cannot be underestimated."

Amid the current trade tension, Shi said US consumers pay for any additional tariffs that are imposed, and the drop in agricultural produce exported to China will damage the interests of US farmers.