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China hopes the United States can show sincerity and promote proposals both countries can accept when their two leaders meet at this week's G20 summit, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday ahead of the key trade talks.
World leaders started arriving in Buenos Aires on Thursday ahead of the gathering of the Group of 20, where global trade tensions, fuelled by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war with China, are expected to dominate the agenda.
Financial and commodities markets are closely watching the outcome of the summit, especially a planned meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, though the outcome is far from certain.
Just as he left for Argentina on Thursday, Trump sent mixed signals about the chances of a trade deal with China, saying an agreement was close but he was not sure he wanted one.
Chinese police have arrested two trade union officials after they helped workers try to set up a union, a source told Reuters on Friday, the latest detentions in a nationwide crackdown on labour activists.China's latest round of labour activism began this year when a company called Jasic International, a welding machinery manufacturer in the southern city of Huizhou, fired some workers for attempting to set up a union.The sacked workers staged weeks of protests, drawing in support from activists.The protests sparked detentions by the authorities, first of the protest organisers, then of student activists and most recently of supporters on top university campuses.The stability-obsessed Chinese Communist Party is suspicious of all forms of grassroots organisation that operate beyond its control, especially any that might lead to large-scale protests.On Nov. 9, police detained two community officials from the All China Federation of Trade Unions in the southern city of Shenzhen, said a source with knowledge of the situation.Police told their families that they were suspected of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", a crime in China, said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.The Shenzhen Public Security Bureau did not respond to a faxed request for comment.The All China Federation of Trade Unions also did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.All unions in China have to register with the official federation. The Communist Party has been calling for it federation to do a better in helping to improve workers' livelihood.But those improvements do not include allowing workers to organise freely.Labour rights groups say that the federation remains more responsive to the demands of management than workers.One of the detained officials is a woman, Zou Liping, who helped Jasic workers apply to set up a union led by members they had elected, and she also advised them about the law, according to a former worker."If she wasn't there, then maybe we wouldn't have been able to do it .... She told us how to legally set up a labour union," said the worker, who also declined to be identified."Even those within the system, if they have empathy for the workers, then they can be detained too," the worker said.The first source identified the second detained union official as Li Ao.The plight of factory workers at companies like Jasic has become a focus for students and recent graduate activists who have eschewed normal career paths in favour of working to address inequality and other social issues.More than 30 people are in detention as part of the crackdown on the protests, according to a support group.Reuters was unable to independently verify the group's tally of the detained. 
Two Chinese trade union officials arrested after helping workers
Asked how China viewed the prospects, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China has consistently stressed that the essence of China-US trade is mutual benefit and win-win.
"At present both countries economic teams are maintaining close contact to put into effect the spirit of the consensus reached by the two leaders in their telephone call on Nov. 1," Geng told a daily news briefing.
"We hope the U.S. can show sincerity and meet China half way, to promote a proposal that both countries can accept," he added.
"At the same time we also hope that with the hard work of both sides, the Argentina meeting that will shortly take place between the leaders of China and the United States can achieve positive results, to set the direction for the next stage in the development of China-US ties."
China's Foreign Ministry said on Friday it hoped the United States could show sincerity and meet it halfway on trade, ahead of a meeting this weekend between the two countries' leaders that could be key to resolving their trade war.Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comment at a daily news briefing.U.S. President Donald Trump sent mixed signals on Thursday about the prospects for a trade deal with China, saying an agreement was close but he was not sure he wanted one, just as he left for Argentina for a meeting with President Xi Jinping.China pollution cover-ups 'extremely stupid': environment ministryChina rejects US academic report calling for retaliatory action
China says it hopes US can show sincerity on trade
The rising tensions have seen the two countries hit each other with tit-for-tariffs on goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars in sectors from automobiles to agriculture and energy, stymieing trade and redrawing global supply chains.
The United States has levied additional duties of between 10 percent and 25 percent on $250 billion of Chinese goods this year as punishment for what it calls China's unfair trade practices, with the 10 percent tariffs set to climb to 25 percent next year. China has responded with its own tariffs.
HITTING "PAUSE"
The state-run China Daily newspaper said in an editorial on Friday that an agreement can be reached in Argentina as both sides want a deal, but Washington must be "fair minded" if it wants to defuse spiralling tensions.
However, it said any deal at this stage was unlikely to be a comprehensive solution to the trade impasse due to "diverging demands and agendas". It cited tensions over Chinese technological development, a focus of U.S. concern.
Attempts by Chinese companies and local governments to conceal pollution violations are "extremely stupid" and will not succeed, China's environment ministry said on Friday after a spate of cover-ups in the country.Now in the fifth year of its war on pollution, China has struggled to enforce its environmental laws and Beijing wants market regulators, graft watchdogs, police and the courts to play a bigger role in punishing polluters.The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) has named and shamed several local jurisdictions and companies over the past month for deliberate acts of deception designed to hide compliance failures.This month, one firm deliberately misreported the spilling of nearly 70 tonnes of petrochemicals into the sea at the Quanzhou port in southeast Fujian province, the local government said in a statement, adding that seven company workers have been arrested and several officials dismissed.China rejects US academic report calling for retaliatory action"Any attempt to conceal the truth is extremely stupid and in vain," environment ministry spokesman Liu Youbin said at a news briefing in Beijing when asked about the port incident."The relevant company is directly responsible for the incident, but the local government also didn't do a good job dealing with the emergency, especially in disclosing relevant information," he added.China is in the middle of a new campaign to curb winter smog, and forced at least 46 cities this week to adopt emergency measures to cut emissions after air quality deteriorated across northern and eastern regions.Despite pressure from Beijing, many growth-obsessed local governments turn a blind eye to polluting enterprises they consider vital sources of jobs and economic growth.This month, state media reported that officials in eastern China's Shandong province were caught throwing chemicals worth 46 million yuan ($6.63 million) into a river to disguise pollution levels.In Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, officials were accused of trying to cover a one-kilometre (0.62 mile) section of a river with tarpaulin to hide water pollution from inspectors, according to a state media report last month.Liu said environmental inspections enable local governments to promote "high-quality economic development" and the scrutiny will continue."We will not ease supervision and will continue to carry out inspections," he said. 
China pollution cover-ups 'extremely stupid': environment ministry
"However, it should be feasible for some kind of agreement to be reached to prevent the dispute worsening if both sides are reasonable," it said.
A deal involving a total scrapping of all tariffs is not expected, although many observers have not ruled out a "pause" in the trade war where any planned tariff increases are put on hold while talks between the two sides continue.
The options for solving the Sino-U.S. problems are all on the table, a Chinese diplomat said in Washington on Wednesday, adding both sides have stepped up communication and he was optimistic about the Xi-Trump talks.
China's commerce ministry said on Thursday it was also hoping for "positive results".
Chinese media on Friday hit back at a U.S. academic report which urged the United States to engage in "tit-for-tat" retaliation to counter what it said was China's widening campaign for influence which threatened to undermine democratic values.The 213-page report, published by the U.S. think tank Hoover Institution on Thursday, said China's ruling Communist Party had in recent years "significantly accelerated" both the investment and intensity of its global influence-seeking efforts.The report was penned by a group of more than 30 prominent Western experts, such as Orville Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York, many whom had long advocated for closer engagement with China.The sharper tone comes as President Xi Jinping has increased repression at home and adopted what the report describes as an "increasingly forward and aggressive posture on the global stage".Trump says 'long way to go' on tariffs and ChinaChina's state-run Global Times said the report's threat assessment was unfounded."We believe the Chinese infiltration into the United States the report describes does not match up with China's objective aspirations," the newspaper said in an editorial.The report, however, found that there was now a "surprising" level of bi-partisan scepticism about China's intentions and a willingness to push back against its "predatory" policies."China is exploiting America's openness in order to advance its aims on a competitive playing field," it said. "Once largely a form of economic competition, China's recent turn to military and political rivalry with the United States has changed the whole equation of the bilateral relationship."US farm sector stockpiles Chinese chemicals before scheduled tariffsIn order to counter China's activities, the report makes a series of suggestions for United States lawmakers, institutions and businesses that it said could help ensure "transparency, integrity and reciprocity".It recommends denying U.S. visas to Chinese journalists and having scholars affiliated with the Chinese government-run "Thousand Talents Programme" registered as a foreign agent.The report also lauded recent legislation that strengthened the review process by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency panel that assesses the national security implications of investment.Legislation passed in June by U.S. President Donald Trump was a "substantial improvement" that closed loopholes that China had been exploiting, it said.China hopes for positive results from US talks at G20The authors also included a note of caution that China's efforts should not be exaggerated."China has not sought to interfere in a national election in the United States or to sow confusion or inflame polarisation in our democratic discourse the way Russia has done," it said.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said it was their custom not to give detailed comment on think tank reports, but he said China welcomed U.S. companies, media, students and think tanks to come to the country."We hope that the United States, as the world's most powerful country, can open both arms and welcome companies, the media, think tanks and students from all countries, including China, to go to the United States," he told reporters.
China rejects U.S. academic report calling for retaliatory action
Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to Trump who advocates a tough stance, will attend the meeting with Xi, a U.S. official told Reuters. Another official said Navarro's addition was meant to send a message to China about the administration's resolve.
The stakes are high for the world's two biggest economies.
Official data on Friday showed that growth in China's manufacturing sector stalled for the first time in more than two years in November, and new export orders declined for a sixth straight month.