Facing US trade uncertainty, China gets cozy with neighbours

Chengdu: China made overtures on trade to Japan and South Korea and offered support for an infrastructure initiative as it hosted the leaders of its two neighbours this week amid strained ties with the US.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Beijing was willing to strengthen economic cooperation with Japan in third-country markets.

At the meeting on the sidelines of a trilateral summit in the southwestern city of Chengdu, Li added that China would further open up its services industry to Japan.

During a separate meeting on Monday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Li said China was willing to work on a rail network linking Korea with China and Europe, Yonhap news agency reported.

Li's remarks come as China and the United States edge closer to an initial trade agreement after imposing tariffs on goods that worth billions of dollars over nearly two years in a bruising trade war that has hit the global economy.

On Friday US President Donald Trump touted a 'very good talk' he had held with China's President Xi Jinping on a deal to resolve the dispute.

However details of the so-called "phase one" deal between the world's two largest economies have yet to be published in writing, with officials citing incomplete translation and legal work.

Meanwhile relations between the pair have been further strained by US legislators' support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, and their condemnation of the mass internment of Muslim minorities in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang.

Li stressed on Wednesday the importance of China's trade ties with Japan and South Korea, saying their vast volume of trade was due to the "joint protection of regional stability and peace".