China's white paper helps send message, experts say

China's newly released white paper on trade talks with the United States doesn't represent an escalation in the dispute, but sends a message that Beijing doesn't want to be "pushed around" on any terms of the deal, according to experts and government officials.

To reach a deal that is "both sustainable and enforceable" requires the US to negotiate in good faith and not engage in yet another round of backtracking, they said.

"I wouldn't call the white paper an escalation, but it does seem like China was sending a message that it will not be pushed around," said Simon Lester, the associate director of the Cato Institute's Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies.