Veterans’ village Near Chengdu’s central district lies a mini-village called Zhanqi which practices long-held traditions and which is populated by mostly senior residents. MANNY ANGELES@tribunephl_mba

Beijing, China — As both China and the United States (US) have been lately saber rattling over an impending trade war, an international relations expert said the Asian giant is waiting for the US to make its first move.

In a lecture, Song Shiming, a professor from the Party School of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, maintained that the Chinese government led by President Xi Jinping is sincere in the conduct of its relations with any country.

Giving his personal take on the matter, the professor said China will welcome any development on the trade war but he emphasized that the government will not let its guard down.

“China shows sincerity in relations with any state including the US and it is committed to work closely with any country. If the US will sincerely talk with us, the US is more than welcome to do so but we will never be fearful about a trade war,” he said.

He also explained the trade war will not greatly affect the Chinese economy as the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) now does not heavily rely on trade with other countries unlike in 2008 when 60 percent of the GDP came from foreign trade.

“I don’t think the trade volume between China and the US will have a big impact in case of a trade war, that’s my personal opinion. If this dispute happened in 2008, when the international financial crisis happened, the story would be different. The government made several adjustments to reduce the share of exports in the economy since then,” the Chinese professor said.

“Our reliance on foreign trade dropped to only 10 percent right now so in terms of trade, I don’t think there is such a huge impact in the Chinese economy if a trade war erupts but there will be some effects,” he said.

Song also indicated China will maintain strong diplomatic interactions with big nations like the US.

“In the thousands of years of Chinese history, relations with other countries were highly valued. When there were parties stronger or trying to be stronger than us, we were never fearful but instead, we try to be stronger while we interact with smaller and weaker countries. China is very willing to take a low profile in relation to the other party,” he said.

“When we are interacting with the US which claims to be the biggest power in the world, we maintain strength in our position,” he added.

US President Donald Trump tweeted that he had a “very good talk” with the Chinese president regarding the trade deal.

He said that both superpowers will have a formal signing of a deal which he claimed will end the trade war.

“Had a very good talk with President Xi of China concerning our giant trade deal. China has already started large scale purchases of agricultural product and more. Formal signing being arranged. Also talked about the North Korea, where we are working with China, and Hong Kong (progress!),” Trump said in a tweet.

Xi, for his part, said the first phase of the deal package will benefit both sides and the whole world.

In a phone conversation with Trump, Xi noted the two countries have reached the phase-one agreement on the basis of the principle of equality and mutual respect.

Against the backdrop of an extremely complicated international environment, the agreement benefits China, the United States, as well as peace and prosperity of the whole world, Xi said.

For his part, Trump said that the economic and trade agreement reached between China and the United States will be a win-win formula.

Noting that both countries’ markets and the world have responded very positively to the agreement, Trump said the United States is willing to maintain close communications with China and to strive for the signing and implementation of the agreement at an early date.

Xi stressed that the economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States has made significant contributions to the stability and development of China-US relations and the advancement of the world economy.

Modern economy and technologies have integrated the world as a whole, thus making the interests of China and the United States more intertwined with each other, Xi said, adding that the two sides will experience some differences in cooperation.

As long as both sides keep holding the mainstream of China-US economic and trade cooperation featuring mutual benefits and win-win outcomes, and always respect each other’s national dignity, sovereignty and core interests, they will overcome difficulties on the way of progress, and push forward their economic and trade relations under the new historical conditions, so as to benefit the two countries and peoples, Xi said.