Sawt Falasteen - China, US hold fresh talks on trade disputes

Raimondo's trip to China is the latest by a senior US official in recent months as Washington seeks to defuse tensions with the world's second-largest economy.

On Tuesday, she met China's Vice Premier He Lifeng in Beijing, reiterating her view that "the US-China commercial relationship is one of the most consequential" in the world.

"Managing that relationship responsibly is critical to both of our nations and indeed to the whole world," she said during a part of the meeting where journalists were allowed in the room.

She stressed the US would "never compromise in protecting our national security", but added that Washington "did not seek to decouple, or to hold China's economy back".

He, in response, said Beijing was willing to work on "new, positive efforts to keep economic consensus and step up cooperation".

Raimondo also met China's Culture and Tourism Minister Hu Heping on Tuesday, underscoring "the importance of people-to-people exchange to the broader US-China bilateral relationship", the US Commerce Department said.

She will also pay a courtesy visit to Premier Li Qiang, before heading to China's economic powerhouse Shanghai and leaving the country on Wednesday.

Earlier in her trip, she met with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, with the two sides agreeing to set up a working group to iron out the laundry list of trade disputes between them.

They also agreed to set up what Washington called an "export control enforcement information exchange" -- described as a platform to "reduce misunderstanding of US national security policies".

The information exchange will convene for the first time at Beijing's commerce ministry on Tuesday, Washington said.

But Beijing painted a less rosy picture, saying Wang had raised "serious concerns" over Washington's trade curbs on Chinese businesses.

Those included "US Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, its semiconductor policies, restrictions of two-way investment, discriminatory subsidies, and sanctions on Chinese enterprises", Beijing's commerce ministry said.

Washington defends the policies as necessary to "de-risk" its supply chains.

But Wang warned they "run counter to market rules and the principle of fair competition, and will only harm the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains".

- Trade tensions -

The commerce secretary is one of a number of senior US officials to visit China in recent months -- part of an effort by Washington to improve its working relationship with its largest strategic rival.

Relations between the two countries have plummeted to some of their lowest levels in decades, with US trade curbs near the top of the list of disagreements.

This month, Biden issued an executive order aimed at restricting certain US investments in sensitive high-tech areas in China -- a move Beijing blasted as being "anti-globalisation".

The long-anticipated rules, expected to be implemented next year, target sectors such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sought to reassure Chinese officials about the expected curbs during a visit to Beijing last month.

In June, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Beijing, where he met President Xi Jinping and said progress had been made on a number of key points of contention. US climate envoy John Kerry also visited China in July.

H.Darwish--SF-PST