Incremental improvement, but intent of US' controls and restrictions is clear: China Daily editorial

The readout of US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo's meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao on Monday that the US Department of Commerce issued soon after the meeting conveys her visit was intended to be pragmatic and problem-oriented.

One of the fruits of this was the two sides have agreed to establish a new commercial issues working group, a consultation mechanism that will meet twice annually to seek solutions to trade and investment issues. It will involve not only officials at the vice-ministerial level but also private sector representatives. The participation of US and Chinese entrepreneurs into the consultation mechanism will hopefully provide policymakers with a better understanding of the practical needs of enterprises and thus help make the discussions more relevant to easing the real "pain points" of industries.

However, Raimondo will know as well as anyone that it is the US government that is creating those pain points by applying unreasonable export controls and investment restrictions targeting China.

While the new channels that have been opened during her visit to facilitate communication are a positive development, there can be no denying that there used to be more extensive and deeper communication mechanisms between the two sides just a few years ago, and that the two sides have still not recovered what has been lost.

Most of the obstacles in current Sino-US relations are in essence a legacy of the Donald Trump administration that has been inherited and faithfully upheld by the Joe Biden administration. They should be viewed from the perspective of the harm they do to the two countries and beyond, rather than seen as "strategic assets" giving the US an upper hand in its "competition" with China.

Raimondo claimed that the Biden administration — which has escalated and expanded the discriminatory policies of its predecessor — is not trying to contain China's development. But even the launch of the "export control enforcement information exchange" — that is supposedly intended to serve as a platform to reduce the chances of misunderstanding the US' "national security policies" — seems more like a fig leaf for the US' attempts to contain China's rise.

"I want to be clear that we will never seek to decouple or hold China's economy back," she said. Yet what is clear is that the Biden administration will have to try hard to convince Beijing that is the case, as taking its lead from its predecessor, the Biden administration has weaponized trade and technology and blacklisted hundreds of Chinese entities.

Despite this, Beijing has never reciprocated to the same extent. So far, the number of US companies sanctioned by Beijing can be counted with one hand, all due to their challenging Beijing's redline on the Taiwan question. It is not Beijing that is the bully.

"The economic relationship between the US and China is one of the most significant in the world. We share over $700 billion of trade," Raimondo said as she kicked off the meeting in the Chinese capital.

That should be something she and her colleagues in other departments always bear in mind.