APEC Setback Won’t Harm Trade Truce Effort, China Insiders Say

(Bloomberg) -- The cancellation of a global conference that was set to host a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping won’t harm efforts to pause the the trade war between their two countries, according to two Chinese insiders.

“Based on what I know, Chile canceling APEC summit will not affect arrangements of the China-US trade talks,” Global Times Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin said Thursday on Twitter. “The talks are progressing smoothly and will move forward as planned.”

The Global Times is published by the People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party. Hu has said the paper voices opinions that official sources can’t.

The first installment of a trade accord between the U.S. and China faced a new hurdle Wednesday after Chile canceled an upcoming summit where Trump and Xi had planned to meet. The top negotiators of the two countries will hold phone call tomorrow, Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in statement.

Zhu Guangyao, a former deputy finance minister of China, also told Bloomberg TV on Thursday that the two sides could still get the real progress and understanding and finalize the accord under the principle of mutual respect and benefit.

“It’s very important for both sides diplomatic channel to have real communication,” said Zhu, who’s now a counselor to the State Council, China’s cabinet. He added the Chile’s decision to cancel the meeting is a reminder of the importance of direct U.S.-China diplomatic ties.

--With assistance from Yinan Zhao.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alfred Cang in Singapore at acang@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net, Derek Wallbank, Brendan Scott

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