US-China Trade Deal: Documents in hand, the US and China fought on five fronts

In the run up to the Presidential Election 2020, the US President (POTUS) Donald Trump is most likely to ink at least ‘phase one’ of the much anticipated trade deal with China. However, as the war for supremacy between both the countries has taken up multiple dimensions, the sustainability of any such deal is being looked at with suspicion.

As the promises are now coming in the form of documents, the hopes are high on phase one of trade deal between the US and China. The trade markets throughout the world are reacting positively but questions remain on the sustainability of the trade deal between the two superpowers. This is because trade may be the most pressing but not the only contentious issues between the two. 

Though the response in the market is not just because repeated statements of the POTUS, this time documents of the deal have been put in the public domain. The US Trade Representative (USTR), and it’s Chinese counterpart have recently released a two-page brief approach paper for the ‘phase one of the trade deal’. However, the full trade deal is said to be running into 86 pages which is yet to be finalized. 

The US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said, “This landmark agreement marks critical progress towards a more balanced trade relationship and a more level playing field for American workers and companies”. The approach papers mention nine areas of cooperation namely – Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer, Agriculture, Financial Services, Currency, Expanding Trade and Dispute Resolution. As per the deal both the countries will commit to set up mechanism to resolve their disputes in a ‘fair and expeditious’ manner. 

Though yet to be signed, the critics say the US is the ultimate beneficiary of the deal as it ensures nearly two thirds of all the US imports from China are covered under the hiked tariff imposed by the Trump administration. Thus the average US tariff on Chinese imports is estimated to be 19.3 percent which was just 3 percent two years back when the recent trade war started. 

However, the trade is not the only contentious issues between both the countries. While Trump was issuing positive statements for the deal, the diplomats of both the countries were engaged in a highly aggressive manner on at least five issues.

Hong Kong Protest 

The pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong has been a bone of contention between the US and China. Despite China’s direct warnings and raising the issue at almost every platform, the US finally made a law to support the protests in Hong Kong on humanitarian grounds.

Most recently on December 21, China again slammed the new US defence act, which includes measures to strengthen Washington's ties with Taiwan and support for Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, saying it "blatantly interfered" in China's internal affairs. The tough-worded statement by China's top lawmaking body came a day after President Xi Jinping told his US counterpart Donald Trump that US comments and actions regarding Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Tibet were harming ties between the two economic giants. Earlier, Xi Jinping had personally warned the US on its support to Hong Kong protests. 

Human Rights’ Violations in China

Besides alleged human rights violations in Hong Kong, there is also growing concern in Washington, among both Democrats and Republicans, over the mass repression of ethnic Uighurs, a mostly Muslim minority in northwest China's Xinjiang region. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) calls for a report on the treatment of minorities in Xinjiang and to improve military ties with Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

You Wenze, a spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), told state-run Xinhua news agency, that the bill "blatantly interfered" in China's internal affairs. The parts relating to Taiwan undermined peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, he said. 

Taiwan Elections 

The stakes are also high on ensuing elections in Taiwan which will vote on January 11. Here, the China and the US both are seeking a favourable government. The incumbent President Ms. Tsai Ing-wen is considered friendly to the US while her opponent Han Kuo-yu is considered a supporter of the Beijing. According to political observers, Tsai, 63, is up against Han Kuo-yu of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party, who had a stratospheric rise last year in local elections but has struggled on the campaign trail. The US has deployed its warships in the South China Sea and which often leads to confrontation between the two superpowers. 

Humanitarian Aid to Syria 

This issue also witnessed a heated exchange of words between the US and China as China. US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Saturday slammed China and Russia over their move to block a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution on cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria, describing their decision as "shameful". "The Russian Federation's and China's veto of a Security Council resolution that allows for humanitarian aid to reach millions of Syrians is shameful," Pompeo wrote in a statement, as cited by Sputnik news agency.

US Space Force 

While both the countries are engaged in the promised trade deal, Trump launched a full-fledged US Space Force (USSF) on December 21. The USSF will be sixth part of the US armed forces after the army, navy, coast guard, air force, and marine forces. During the launch of the force, the US officials and also the President mentioned the threat from China and Russia as the major reason for the need of such a force to protect America's interest in the outer space as well as ensuing a lead in the space (). This statement is being seen as the first question on sustainability of the deal. 

In addition to these issues which witnessed criticism and counter criticism between both the courtiers in the last week, the list of contentious issues between the US and China is too long. The State sponsored terrorism in Pakistan, China’s alleged support to Iran and North Korea, China’s support to Pakistan, Gwadar Port, China’s increasing influence in the markets of European Union and Africa are some of them. 

It’s not merely the trade war but militarization of trade war between the two countries seems to be a major problem for the world. This has covered almost everything on the Earth and has now reached into the Space. 

(With inputs from agencies) 

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are the personal views of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)