China will continue abiding by its commitments to the Phase One trade deal signed with the United States January 15 that paused Trump's trade war despite recent and ramped-up political and trade provocations by the Trump administration.
Diplomatic and trade relations between China and the U.S. have hurtled downhill since April after president Donald Trump decided to exclusively blame China for inflicting the COVID-19 pandemic on the world. Political observers say Trump is playing the China blame game to bolster his sagging chances for re-election. Trump also wants to distract Americans from his failure to control the COVID-19 pandemic that will see the deaths of 100,000 Americans before June 1.
Over the past few days, Trump has stoked his conflict with China by siding with both Hong Kong in its protest against China's proposed new security measures, and with the Republic of China (Taiwan), to which the U.S. will sell advanced torpedoes worth $180 million.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Friday during the third session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) vowed China will help advance the liberalization of global trade and investment. He also announced China will work with the U.S. to implement the phase one China-U.S. economic and trade agreement.
Li said China will continue to boost economic and trade cooperation with other countries to deliver mutual benefits. China will actively participate in reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and work toward the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that will improve free trade negotiations with Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Over the past week, Trump has said the Phase One trade deal is no longer a priority for him. Instead, Trump is threatening punitive measures against China for its initial and, according to Trump, bungled response to the pandemic.
Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for the 13th NPC, asserted a stable and growing relationship between China and the U.S. is in the best interest of the Chinese and American people. He also said the top priority for China is to work together to fight COVID-19 and ensure global economic stability. He warned China will be forced to react if the U.S. maintains a Cold War mentality.
The centerpiece of the Phase One deal is China's pledge to buy $200 billion worth of U.S. goods and services. The Trump administration keeps threatening to abandon the deal if China doesn't uphold this commitment.
"If they don't buy, we'll terminate the deal. Very simple," said Trump recently on Fox News.
Trump, however, continues to double down on a conspiracy theory popular among Republicans and right-wing Americans the COVID-19 coronavirus originated at a Chinese government biological laboratory in Wuhan, China. There is, however, no evidence supporting this claim and the intelligence communities of the U.S., Australia and some Europeans debunk it.
Last week, Republican Senators introduced the "COVID-19 Accountability Act," which will authorize Trump to impose sanctions on China if it doesn't cooperate with a U.S. investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
