Shanghai round breathes new life into trade talks

Chinese and US negotiators concluded their latest round of trade talks in Shanghai on Wednesday without a post-talks toast as they failed to reach any breakthrough in their trade standoff, although they did agree to continue their negotiations.

Given the complexity of Sino-US economic relations and the hard nuts of disagreement that they are trying to crack, that has offered some cheer to counter the downbeat sentiment that had prevailed before the talks began on Tuesday.

China and the United States have different economic systems, are at different development stages, and have different approaches to international relations: China pursues cooperation for mutual benefits; while the US views everything as zero-sum competition in which it can be the only winner.