House committee's report not conducive to steadying Sino-US economic and trade ties

Whether from economic, trade or military perspectives, some US politicians wrongly view China as a threat to the United States. To justify their call for tougher measures against China, they have left no stone unturned to try and find evidence that serves to demonize China.

In the latest such endeavor, a US House committee released a report this week baselessly claiming that China has attempted to manipulate critical mineral prices to the detriment of US interests through alleged predatory pricing and export controls.

The latest accusations that the China hawks have made concerning critical minerals are nothing but a new salvo in their disinformation drive targeting China. It is a common trick to mislead US policymakers.

The Chinese authorities have made the country's position clear on the export control measures on critical mineral resources, including rare earths and related items, explaining that China took the measures to better safeguard world peace and regional stability, and fulfill nonproliferation and other international obligations.

The export controls are not export bans; all compliant applications for exports for civil use can get approval. China made a thorough assessment of the measures' possible impact on industry and supply chains in advance and is certain that the related impact is very limited.

With regard to pricing, the London Metal Exchange remains the global center for the trading of industrial minerals, and it provides a centralized marketplace and transparent pricing mechanisms with high liquidity and standardized contracts, reflecting real-time supply-demand dynamics. Yet turning a blind eye to the fact that the LME is subject to laws and regulations of the United Kingdom, where it is based, the US House committee report groundlessly suggests that the exchange is susceptible to influence from China.

Based on such conjecture, the US would be the world's largest manipulator because it owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which offers a wide range of derivatives products, including equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals.

Hostility toward China and misconception about the country from some US politicians often stem from misunderstanding and ignorance about its complex social and economic landscape, which underscores the need for them to engage in constructive dialogue and communication with Chinese policymakers. This will help them understand China more accurately and view the country in an objective way. Only by doing so can both sides approach differences rationally and explore cooperation.

A visit by US lawmakers led by Democratic Representative Adam Smith in September, the first House of Representatives delegation to visit the country since 2019, was an initial step in this direction. In his meeting with the visiting US delegation on Sept 23, Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that the recent stabilizing trend in bilateral relations was hard-won and should be cherished.

As Vice-Premier He Lifeng said during his meeting with Evan Greenberg, executive vice-chair of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and Stephen Orlins, the committee's president, on Wednesday, China and the US enjoy broad space for economic and trade cooperation, and the two countries should work in the same direction, uphold and implement the important consensus and outcomes of the meeting between the two heads of state in Busan, the Republic of Korea, on Oct 30, and work together to strengthen cooperation and manage differences.

Rather than trying to put a wrench in the works of their ties, as the prejudicial House committee has sought to do, the two sides need to make use of the economic and trade consultation mechanism already in place, and seek win-win results in the spirit of equality and respect for each other's concerns.

China stands ready to work with the rest of the world to step up export control dialogue and exchange, so as to better safeguard the security and stability of global industry and supply chains.