The top-level US trade delegation is going to Beijing for talks on May 3-4 amid an ongoing dispute between the world's two largest economies.
"In the event of a trade war, we have a much greater ability to endure (the consequences) than the US," the Chinese government official said.
The US has called on China to reduce its bilateral trade surplus with the US by $100 billion, targeting Beijing’s initiative “Made in China 2025.” The initiative aims to upgrade the country’s domestic manufacturing base with more advanced products.
READ MORE: China Hopes US Would Seek Solution to Trade Dispute at Coming Talks
Talks would not be accepted by China with preconditions on these or other matters, the official stated.
In 2017 China had a cumulative $375 billion trade surplus with the US.
Chinese-North Korean Relations
China hopes that the talks between the US and North Korea will "achieve substantial progress," the Xinhua news agency reports.
"Beijing fully backs… (North Korea's) efforts to achieve the goal of denuclearization on the Korean peninsula," China's foreign minister Wang Yi was quoted as saying by China's official Xinhua news agency.
READ MORE: North Korea Seeks Strategic Balance Between China, US — Analysts
With the rapid development of North Korea's nuclear arms program in recent years, its relations with China have deteriorated because Beijing views Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities as a destabilizing factor in the region.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to implement economic sanctions against Pyongyang following his first meeting with Trump in April 2017, bilateral relations worsened between China and North Korea.
