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FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
April 15, 2019
By Christopher Bing and Jack Stubbs
WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) – The United States will push its allies at a meeting in Prague next month to adopt shared security and policy measures that will make it more difficult for China’s Huawei to dominate 5G telecommunications networks, according to people familiar with the matter and documents seen by Reuters.
The event and broader U.S. campaign to limit the role of Chinese telecommunications firms in the build out of 5G networks comes as Western governments grapple with the national security implications of moving to 5G, which promises to be at least 100 times faster than the current 4G networks.
The issue is crucial because of 5G’s leading role in internet-connected products ranging from self-driving cars and smart cities to augmented reality and artificial intelligence. If the underlying technology for 5G connectivity is vulnerable then it could allow hackers to exploit such products to spy or disrupt them.
The United States has been meeting with allies in recent months to warn them Washington believes Huawei’s equipment could be used by the Chinese state to spy. Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Officials from more than 30 countries will meet May 2-3 to agree on security principles for next-generation telecoms networks, said Robert Kahofer, chief of cabinet at Czech cybersecurity agency NUKIB.
A U.S. official familiar with the plan said the Prague meeting marks a strategic shift in how the U.S. government plans to urge allies to drop Huawei and other 5G vendors in the future, which Washington believes pose a risk to national security. The official described the approach as “softer.”
A Huawei spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. proposals for the Prague meeting urge governments and operators to consider the legal environment in a vendor’s country, how much state support a company receives, transparency of corporate structure, and trustworthiness of equipment. It also calls on partners to prioritize security and work together on investigations into cyberattacks aimed at 5G architecture.
The documents do not mention Huawei, the world’s largest telecoms equipment maker, by name, but U.S. officials said they hoped it would provide the “intellectual framework” needed for other countries to effectively bar Chinese vendors. In August, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill that barred the U.S. government itself from using Huawei and ZTE Corp equipment.
“The goal is to agree upon a set of shared principles that would ensure the security of next-generation telecommunications networks,” said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The Prague conference has been organized by the Czech foreign ministry with support from NUKIB, said Kahofer. The foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Delegations from all of the European Union’s 28 member states, as well as the European Commission, NATO and around eight other countries including the United States and Australia are expected to attend, Kahofer said.
China and Russia have not been invited, he added, but stressed that the event was not “an anti-Huawei or anti-China conference.” Europe has emerged as a key battleground for the future of 5G, with the United States pushing allies and partners to bar Chinese vendors but European governments wary of the trade and economic consequences of angering Beijing.
Internet service providers have also warned that banning Huawei would incur huge costs and delay the rollout of 5G by years. A senior U.S. cybersecurity official said last week Washington wanted European governments to adopt “risk-based security frameworks”, citing recent moves in Germany to implement stricter security standards for all 5G vendors, and that doing so would effectively rule out using Huawei and ZTE.
“The United States welcomes engagement from partners and allies to discuss ways that we can work together ensuring that our 5G networks are reliable and secure,” said White House National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis. Officials in Britain, which last month exposed new security flaws in Huawei equipment but says it has found no evidence of Chinese state interference, have also spoken of “raising security across the board” for 5G. The European Commission said in March that EU nations would be required to share data on 5G cybersecurity risks and produce measures to tackle them by the end of the year.
(Reporting by Christopher Bing in WASHINGTON and Jack Stubbs in LONDON)
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FILE PHOTO: A logo of Credit Suisse is pictured on a building in Geneva, Switzerland, November 8, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
April 15, 2019
ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse has agreed to take majority control of Chinese securities venture Credit Suisse Founder Securities Ltd (CSFS), boosting its stake to 51 percent from 33.3 percent via a capital injection, the Swiss bank said on Monday.
Under the deal, the stake held by Credit Suisse’s partner Founder Securities Co Ltd will fall to 49 percent. Credit Suisse did not say how much capital it planned to inject should regulators approve the deal.
China now allows foreign banks to hold controlling stakes in securities joint ventures as a major part of the country’s pledge to ease ownership curbs, especially in the trillion-dollar financial sector.
Swiss rival UBS Group became the first foreign bank to hold a majority stake in a Chinese securities venture when China’s securities regulator gave the go-ahead in November under new rules announced by Beijing in 2017.
JP Morgan and Nomura also won Chinese regulatory approval last month to set up majority-owned brokerage joint ventures.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission said at the time it would continue to approve foreign brokerage joint ventures “efficiently”.
The biggest global investment banks, which struggled to build their China businesses under rules that previously limited them to 49 percent ownership, had long sought the lifting of such limits on joint ventures.
Established in 2008 and headquartered in Beijing, CSFS provides capital markets services in the Chinese domestic market, including sponsoring and underwriting A-shares, foreign investment shares, and government and corporate bonds. It also provides financial advisory services, Credit Suisse said.
Since October 2016, the business has also operated a securities brokerage operation in Shenzhen Qianhai.
Credit Suisse has been present in China for more than 30 years. Its franchise includes equities, investment banking and capital markets, and private banking. It also has an asset management joint venture — ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management Co Ltd — with total assets under management of nearly 1.3 trillion yuan ($193.78 billion) as of the end of 2018.
(Reporting by Michael Shields, editing by John Revill and Jane Merriman)
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FILE PHOTO: The Huawei brand logo is seen above a store of the telecoms equipment maker in Beijing, China, March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
April 15, 2019
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgium’s center for cybersecurity has found no evidence that telecoms equipment supplied by Huawei Technology could be used for spying.
The agency, which reports to the Belgian prime minister, had been tasked with analyzing the possible threat posed by Huawei, which supplies equipment to Belgian mobile operators Proximus, Orange Belgium and Telenet.
“Until now we have not found technical indications that point in the direction of a spying threat,” a spokesman for the agency said on Monday. “We are not providing a final report on the matter, but are continuing to look into it.”
Global market leader Huawei is the target of a campaign by Washington which has barred it from next-generation 5G networks due to concerns over its ties to the Chinese government and says other Western countries should block its technology.
Germany last month set tougher criteria for vendors supplying telecoms network equipment, but stopped short of singling out Huawei, instead saying the same rules should apply to all vendors.
Britain publicly chastised Huawei for failing to fix long-standing security flaws in its mobile network equipment and revealed new “significant technical issues”.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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The former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul Ryan attends a ceremony at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), to mark the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, in Taipei, Taiwan March 15, 2019. REUTERS/Fabian Hamacher
April 15, 2019
By Yimou Lee
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Chinese bombers and warships conducted drills around Taiwan on Monday, the latest military maneuvers near the self-ruled island that a senior U.S. official denounced as “coercion” and a threat to stability in the region.
The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms.
China has stepped up pressure on Taiwan, whose President Tsai Ing-wen Beijing suspects of pushing for the island’s formal independence, a red line for China which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
“Any attempt to influence Taiwan through threats or coercion, we believe, destabilizes the region and threatens stability in the Taiwan Strait,” James Moriarty, chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, said at a ceremony to mark the last four decades of U.S.-Taiwan relations.
China’s People’s Liberation Army said its warships, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft had conducted “necessary drills” around Taiwan on Monday, though it described them as routine.
China has repeatedly carried out what it calls “island encirclement patrols” in the past few years.
Taiwan scrambled jets and ships to monitor the Chinese forces, its defense ministry said, accusing Beijing of “trying to change the status quo of the Taiwan Strait.”
Moriarty said “flying fighter jets and bombers around the island, presumably in connection with what we are doing this afternoon, certainly does not help at all.
“It hurts stability. It damages the cross strait relationship. It damages any attempt by China to win the hearts and minds of Taiwan people,” he told reporters at the institute’s new $256 million facility, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan.
A delegation led by former U.S. speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, was in Taipei to mark 40 years since the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act, which governs U.S.-Taiwan relations, and to reaffirm Washington’s commitment.
“We couldn’t ask for a better friend than Taiwan. Taiwan is a democratic success story, a reliable partner, and a force for good in the world,” Ryan said. “We want the rest of the world to be more like Taiwan.”
Tsai, who says she wants to maintain the status quo with China but will defend Taiwan’s security and democracy, said at the ceremony that China has been ramping up military threats against Taiwan.
The visit by U.S. officials comes just weeks after Tsai said the United States was responding positively to Taipei’s requests for new arms sales to bolster its defenses in the face of growing pressure from China.
Last month, Washington sent Navy and Coast Guard ships through the narrow strait separating the island from the mainland, part of an increase in the frequency of U.S. movement through the strategic waterway to show support for Taipei.
(Reporting By Yimou Lee; Writing and additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; editing by Darren Schuettler)
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Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono (2nd L) talks during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China April 15, 2019. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS
April 15, 2019
BEIJING (Reuters) – China urged Japan on Monday to do more to follow through on its intention of seeking cooperation with China rather than competition, warning that there was still weakness in their relationship.
China and Japan have sparred frequently about their painful history, with Beijing often accusing Tokyo of not properly atoning for Japan’s invasion of China before and during World War Two.
Ties between China and Japan, the world’s second and third-largest economies, have also been plagued by a long-running territorial dispute over a cluster of East China Sea islets and suspicion in China about Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to amend Japan’s pacifist constitution.
But they have sought to improve relations more recently, with Abe visiting Beijing in October, when both countries pledged to forge closer ties and signed a broad range of agreements including a $30 billion currency swap pact.
The Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, told Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono in Beijing that the improvement in relations was in an initial phase.
“There are major opportunities, and there are also sensitivities and weaknesses,” China’s foreign ministry cited Wang as saying.
“The Japanese side has said many times that China and Japan should turn competition into coordination, and (we) hope that Japan can take even more actual steps in this regard.”
The two countries should constructively manage and control their differences through dialogue, and promote the long-term, healthy and steady development of relations, Wang added.
Japan’s foreign ministry spokesman, Takeshi Osuga, told reporters in Beijing that the talks, which included Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, had covered a wide variety of topics, including the East China Sea and North Korea.
While Japan is keen for closer economic ties with its biggest trading partner, it must manage that rapprochement without upsetting its key security ally, the United States.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to visit Japan this year, as it is the host nation for the G20 summit.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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FILE PHOTO: Headquarters of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, is pictured in Beijing, China September 28, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee
April 15, 2019
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s central bank said on Monday that the Chinese economy has shown some positive changes in the first quarter, reiterating its pledge to continue with a prudent monetary policy and ensure reasonably ample liquidity in the interbank market.
Authorities will strengthen coordination between monetary policy, fiscal policy and other policies to fend off risks as they seek to maintain stable growth, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in statement on its website following a quarterly meeting of its monetary policy committee.
The yuan currency will be kept basically stable, according to the PBOC.
(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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FILE PHOTO: The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Staff
April 15, 2019
By Medha Singh
(Reuters) – European shares edged higher in quiet trading on Monday, with bank stocks leading the gains, as Sino-U.S. trade optimism and strong Chinese economic data eased some worries over the global economy.
By 0932 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.1 percent, hovering near eight-month highs. The banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices led the gains.
Mark Taylor, sales trader at Mirabaud Global Thematic Group in London, said banking stocks could be rising due to “U.S. and German yield curves starting to move off their lows”.
JPMorgan handily beating quarterly profit estimates on Friday and kickstarting the U.S. corporate earnings season on a strong note could be another factor helping banks, Taylor said.
“It’s very quiet Monday. Apart from a few earnings catalysts through the week, it looks like people are just largely sitting on the sidelines,” he said.
Asian shares began the week with a positive tone after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday he hoped that the United States and China were close to the final round of negotiations.
Adding to trade relief, Reuters reported that U.S. negotiators had tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as a condition for a deal after strong resistance from Beijing.
Compass Group was among the biggest weights on London’s blue-chip index after Barclays downgraded shares of the world’s largest caterer to “equal-weight”.
Dragging down the euro zone blue chips index was pressured by Finland’s Nokia, down about 3 percent, after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to “sell”.
Nestle, trading without entitlement to its latest dividend pay-out, dragged down the food & beverages index down 0.4 percent and pulled the Swiss SMI index into the red.
EXPANDING OUTPUT
London-listed shares of Rio Tinto weighed down basic resources sector. The mining major announced plans to invest an extra $302 million to develop its Resolution copper project in the U.S. state of Arizona, as it looks to expands output to meet the lucrative market for new energy vehicles.
Rio Tinto is due to release its production data for the March quarter later in the week.
Publicis gained 3.4 percent even as the French advertising group said it would pay $4.4 billion to acquire Alliance Data’s Epsilon marketing unit, expanding its digital business and North American footprint.
Among top performers was Norsk Hydro up 4.7 percent as the company’s alumina refinery in Brazil, Alunorte, and Brazilian public prosecutors jointly petitioned a federal court to lift a production embargo.
Daimler slipped on a report that Germany’s motor vehicle authority KBA was investigating the carmaker on suspicion that 60,000 Mercedes cars were fitted with software aimed at tricking emissions tests. A spokesman for Daimler, owner of Mercedes-Benz, said the carmaker was reviewing the facts and fully cooperating with the KBA.
Italian media group Mediaset and its German rival ProSiebenSat.1 Media rose on merger speculation, even after both companies denied they were in talks.
Vivendi gained after the French media conglomerate posted higher first-quarter revenue and said it was making progress on the planned sale of up to 50 percent of its UMG music arm.
(Reporting by Medha Singh and Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams)
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FILE PHOTO: A process operator holds a handful of dried distillers grains, a protein animal feed that can be fed to livestock, at the GreenField Ethanol plant in Chatham, Ontario, Canada April 10, 2008. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
April 15, 2019
By Hallie Gu and Tom Daly
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed it is starting a review on Monday of its anti-dumping tariffs on imports of distillers grains (DDGS) from the United States and said the investigation should be completed in a year.
The review comes amid trade talks between Beijing and Washington aimed at ending a months-long tit-for-tat tariff row that has roiled global markets. Beijing has pledged during these talks to increase its imports of U.S. farm goods.
The commerce ministry “will review whether it is necessary to continue to impose anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on imported DDGS from the United States,” according to a statement posted it website.
Reuters reported last week that the ministry was set to review the tariffs on U.S. DDGS, citing a document issued by the China Alcoholic Drinks Association.
DDGS are a byproduct of ethanol production and have become a key part of profits for makers of the biofuel. China’s tariffs on U.S. DDGS were first implemented in 2016 at a rate of 33.8 percent, and its imports of the feed ingredient fell sharply.
From January 2017, the anti-dumping duties were raised to between 42.2 percent and 53.7 percent, while anti-subsidy tariffs have ranged from 11.2 percent to 12 percent.
China bought 3 million tonnes of DDGS in 2016, mainly from the United States and worth $684 million, according to Chinese customs data. Imports that year were down 55 percent from 2015.
“It is likely that the tariffs will be removed but it really depends on the trade talks,” said a trader with an international trading house.
“It is still too risky to make any moves at this moment as tariffs are too high,” the trader said.
The trader declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The commerce ministry said in its statement that any interested party can submit suggestions and evidence to the review within 20 days.
(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Tom Daly; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Tom Hogue)
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FILE PHOTO: Workers are seen at a construction site in Beijing’s central business area, China January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee
April 15, 2019
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s first-quarter economy growth likely cooled to the weakest pace in at least 27 years, a Reuters poll showed, but a flurry of measures to boost domestic demand may have put a floor under slowing activity in March.
Signs of improvement in the world’s second-largest economy would add to growing optimism that Washington and Beijing are nearing a trade deal, reviving business confidence and easing worries of a significant slowdown in global growth.
But analysts do not expect a sharp rebound in China’s economy like recoveries in the past, which created a strong reflationary pulse worldwide, noting its latest stimulus measures have so far been relatively more restrained.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect China to report gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.3 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace since the first quarter of 1992, the earliest quarterly data on record.
That would mark a further loss of momentum from the previous quarter’s 6.4 percent, but policymakers and investors are more likely to focus on any signs of a turnaround in March activity data, which will be released at the same time on Wednesday.
Premier Li Keqiang recently said “changes” in the economy in March had exceeded expectations, with the economy operating in a steady manner in the first quarter.
Analysts say unexpectedly strong March credit data on Friday set the stage for a recovery in investment in the second half of the year, though export and import readings were mixed, suggesting domestic demand remains sluggish.
In March, Beijing announced billions of dollars in additional tax cuts and infrastructure spending on top of measures last year.
But top officials have repeatedly vowed not to resort to “flood-like” stimulus like that rolled out in past downturns, which led to a mountain of debt.
China’s economic growth cooled to 6.6 percent in 2018, weighed down by multi-year clampdowns on riskier lending and pollution that have deterred fresh investment, and by escalating U.S. and Chinese tariffs on each others’ goods.
Economists polled by Reuters expected a further pullback to 6.2 percent in 2019 – the slowest in nearly 30 years.
On a sequential basis, economists estimated GDP grew 1.4 percent in the first quarter, easing from 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter.
SIGNS OF SPRING
March data will provide more details on the health of China’s domestic demand, covering industrial output, retail sales, property sales and investment, and fixed asset investment.
Business surveys for March had shown the manufacturing sector unexpectedly return to growth, while service sector activity accelerated, but analysts have cautioned some of the March gains were likely due to seasonal boosts.
Industrial output is expected to have increased 5.9 percent from a year earlier, quickening from 5.3 percent in the first two months, which was the weakest pace in 17 years.
Retail sales are seen growing 8.4 percent, better than the 8.2 percent in the first two months.
China’s auto sales fell for the ninth straight month in March but the pace of decline slowed, industry data showed, as carmakers reduced prices to boost business after Beijing handed out tax cuts to spur consumer spending.
Further evidence of Beijing’s infrastructure spending spree is expected in fixed-asset investment, which is expected to grow 6.3 percent in the first quarter on-year from 6.1 percent in the first two months of the year.
MORE POLICY SUPPORT SEEN NEEDED
While some economists have reduced expectations of further policy easing in light of recent, largely upbeat data, most believe further support is needed to ensure a sustainable recovery.
Support measures will take time to fully kick in, and corporate balance sheets are expected to remain under stress if profits are slow to recover from their worst slump in more than seven years.
The central bank has already slashed banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR) five times over the past year and is widely expected to ease policy further in coming quarters to spur lending and reduce borrowing costs, especially for small and private firms vital for growth and job creation.
Economists in the latest Reuters poll released on Friday (ahead of the credit data) forecast three more cuts to RRR of 50 basis points each in this quarter and the next two, but do not expected the central bank to cut its benchmark lending rate this year or next. [ECILT/CN]
The global economy is slowing more than expected and a sharp downturn could require world leaders to coordinate stimulus measures, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday as it cut its forecast for 2019 world economic growth for the third time.
(Reporting by Kevin Yao; Polling by Khushboo Mittal in Bangalore and Jing Wang in Shanghai; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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Chinese staffers adjust U.S. and Chinese flags before the opening session of trade negotiations between U.S. and Chinese trade representatives at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
April 15, 2019
By Alexandra Alper, Chris Prentice and Michael Martina
WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. negotiators have tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as a condition for a trade deal after strong resistance from Beijing, according to two sources briefed on discussions, marking a retreat on a core U.S. objective for the trade talks.
The world’s two biggest economies are nine months into a trade war that has cost billions of dollars, roiled financial markets and upended supply chains.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has slapped tariffs on $250 billion worth of imports of Chinese goods to press demands for an end to policies – including industrial subsidies – that Washington says hurt U.S. companies competing with Chinese firms. China responded with its own tit-for-tat tariffs on U.S. goods.
The issue of industrial subsidies is thorny because they are intertwined with the Chinese government’s industrial policy. Beijing grants subsidies and tax breaks to state-owned firms and to sectors seen as strategic for long-term development. Chinese President Xi Jinping has strengthened the state’s role in parts of the economy.
In the push to secure a deal in the next month or so, U.S. negotiators have become resigned to securing less than they would like on curbing those subsidies and are focused instead on other areas where they consider demands are more achievable, the sources said.
Those include ending forced technology transfers, improving intellectual property protection and widening access to China’s markets, the sources said. China has already given ground on those issues.
“It’s not that there won’t be some language on it, but it is not going to be very detailed or specific,” one source familiar with the talks said in reference to the subsidies issue.
A representative for the White House referred Reuters to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office, which did not respond to a request for comment.
“If U.S. negotiators define success as changing the way China’s economy operates, that will never happen,” said the other source with knowledge of the trade talks.
“A deal that makes Xi look weak is not a worthwhile deal for Xi. Whatever deal we get, it’s going to be better than what we’ve had, and it’s not going to be sufficient for some people. But that’s politics,” that source said.
China pledged earlier this year to end market-distorting subsidies for its domestic industries but offered no details on how it would achieve that goal, three people familiar with the trade talks told Reuters in February.
MIXED MESSAGES
One of the key sticking points in the negotiations is the removal of the $250 billion in U.S. tariffs. It is broadly expected in the trade community that U.S. negotiators want to keep some tariffs on Chinese goods, which Washington sees as retaliation for the years of damage done to its economy by Beijing’s unfair trade practices.
The role of the state firms may benefit the United States in another part of the trade deal. The Trump administration wants China to make big-ticket purchases of over a trillion dollars of U.S. goods in the next six years to reduce its trade surplus. The companies likely to make the purchases are the state-run firms, both sources said.
“The purchasing, for example, reinforces the role of the state sector because the purchasing is all being done through state enterprises,” one of the sources said.
Another point of contention between the two countries, telecommunications, may drive China to increase the state’s role rather than reduce it, the source said.
Pressure from the United States on allies to reduce cooperation with Chinese telecommunications champions such as Huawei Technologies could push the government into raising state support to develop technology at home.
DECADES OF FRICTION
Subsidies and tax breaks have been a source of friction between the two countries for years.
Washington says Beijing has failed to comply with its World Trade Organization obligations on subsidies that affect both imports and exports.
China has taken steps to address some U.S. concerns in cases brought before the WTO. It has also begun to publicly downplay its push to dominate the future of high-tech industries under its “Made in China 2025” policy, although few expect it to jettison those ambitions.
But the USTR complains of a catalog of other subsidies and supports, including preferential access to capital and land.
The United States says China has failed to disclose subsidies as required by the WTO. Washington has detailed more than 500 different subsidies it says China applies in notifications to the WTO.
The scope of China’s local government subsidy programs is largely unknown, and even the Chinese negotiators have said in recent discussions they do not know the details of all those programs.
“China continues to shield massive sub-central government subsidies from the scrutiny of WTO members,” the USTR said in a February 2019 report to Congress on China’s WTO compliance.
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper and Chris Prentice in Washington and Michael Martina in Beijing; Editing by Chris Sanders and Peter Cooney)
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