- After official media warnings about prospects for future negotiations, state-affiliated social media account says both sides have the same stance
- Shift in tone follows upbeat assessment from White House at the end of latest series of high-level meetings in Washington
Chinese state media has begun talking up progress on trade talks with the United States after offering cautious assessments on the weekend of the prospects for future high-level negotiations.
On Tuesday, Taoran Notes, a social media account affiliated with the official Economic Daily, said China and the US essentially shared the "same position" on the progress of the trade talks.
"If the Chinese side has disagreement with (what US President Donald Trump has said), it will make a response immediately," it said.
"People who are familiar with China's situation would know that China takes a very cautious approach when it comes to official language used in announcements to the public … but we can confirm that both sides essentially share the same stance."
On a lighter note, Taoran Notes said the Chinese and US officials shared a takeaway hamburger lunch from a Washington restaurant on October 10 and had eaten from the same place during negotiations in March.
"Vice-Premier Liu said the hamburger tasted better this time," the commentary said.
On Friday, the White House was upbeat about progress, with Trump saying China and the US had reached a "substantial phase one deal" in two days of just-concluded talks in Washington between Vice-Premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Trump said it would take a few weeks to put details of the deal on paper, but the US had agreed to suspend the 5 percentage point tariff increase on Chinese imports scheduled for Tuesday, and China would buy more US agricultural products.
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In contrast, Chinese state media warned on the weekend of uncertainties and cautioned against being "overly optimistic" about negotiations.
The Chinese foreign ministry was also wary on Monday, making no mention of a deal.
But the ministry did confirm that progress was made on issues including agriculture, intellectual property protection, exchange rates, financial services, the expansion of trade cooperation, technology transfer and dispute settlement.
Also on Monday, Mnuchin said high-level talks between China and the US would continue next week with the aim of finalising the phase one deal before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Chile in November.
"The next phase is deputy-level calls that will be going on this week," Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC. "Ambassador Lighthizer and myself will have a principal-level call next week with the vice-premier.
"My expectation is (that) we'll have the deputies meet between now and Chile, and my expectations are that we will be meeting with the vice-premier in Chile before the presidents meet to finish the deal."
US-China trade talks to resume next week, eyeing to clinch 'phase one' deal during November forum
An editorial from China's state tabloid Global Times published on Tuesday also echoed the more hopeful tone with a commentary under the headline, "The breakthrough in China-US (talks) should be celebrated instead of being dismissed".
"China and the US have made a breakthrough in the negotiations. Both sides are satisfied with the progress and expressed strong will to reach a final deal."
Liu Weidong, a researcher at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China should be "pretty satisfied" with the progress in the trade talks because so far the discussions about reaching a phase one deal did not seem to have crossed any bottom lines.
"The cost to Trump of not signing a deal grows as his race for re-election draws closer. But of course we cannot ignore the fact that Trump has been inconsistent before and he might play his tricks and add bits and pieces to be included (in the phase one deal)," Liu said, adding that he expected talks before Apec to be positive.
"Trump is facing the pressure from impeachment and re-election, while China is facing pressure from its own economy.
"There are not many expected changes to this scenario until November, and therefore their respective proactive and positive stances on trade talks should remain largely the same as well."
Du Lan, from the China Institute of International Studies, said it was likely that the two sides would reach and an initial agreement by Apec.
"I don't think issues such as technology transfers and protection of intellectual property " which are the US' biggest concerns and set the two sides apart in previous negotiations " will be a major part of the phase one deal. They will be left for future discussion so that both sides can reach an initial deal in November," Du said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, official numbers indicated that Chinese exports fell 3.2 per cent year on year in September " the biggest monthly decline since February. This is expected to weigh on China's economy, with the International Monetary Fund already revising down its 2019 economic growth forecast for the country from 6.3 per cent to 6.2 per cent.
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