Chinese President Xi Jinping
China wants to resolve problems with the United States through talks but it must respect China's choice of development path and interests, President Xi Jinping said on Thursday ahead of a meeting with the U.S. leader in Argentina.
China and the United States have put tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's goods and U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to set tariffs on the remainder of China's $500 billion-plus exports to the United States if their blistering trade dispute cannot be resolved.
Trump's administration has also accused China of interfering in U.S. politics, charges China strongly denies, and the two have sparred over the disputed South China Sea and self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims.
Still, Trump and Xi plan to meet on the sidelines of a G20 summit, which is being held in Argentina at the end of November and early December, for high-stakes talks as the two countries try tentatively to get ties back on track.
Credit rating agency Moody’s warned on Thursday that global economic growth was likely to slow in the next two years and that it expected the trade war between the United States and China to escalate further."We expect global growth to slow to under 3.0 percent in 2019 and 2020, from an estimated 3.3 percent in 2017-18," the agency said in a new report.It added that the recently imposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods were likely to rise to 25 percent in January from their current 10 percent level."In both countries, the overall direct macro impact on growth will be manageable. However, persistent and broadening tensions between the two largest economies globally are increasingly likely to have widespread negative implications by undermining investment," Moody's said. China pledges $150 million aid to El Salvador as relationship deepensSenior China diplomat says US, China can resolve trade dispute through talks
Moody’s sees escalation of US-China trade war, dip in global growth
Meeting former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Beijing, Xi said he and Trump would have a "deep exchange of views" in Argentina, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
China and the United States should correctly judge each other's strategic intentions, and while China wanted to resolve problems via talks, the United States should respect China's choice of development path and legitimate interests, Xi added.
Xi said attention should be paid to "the increase in negative voices related to China in the United States", without elaborating.
Speaking earlier, the Chinese government's top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, said Xi and Trump reached an important consensus on the healthy and stable development of bilateral ties in a telephone call last week.
China will give El Salvador $150 million to spur development of social and technological projects, the Salvadoran president said on Wednesday, the latest sign of deepening ties between the countries that has alarmed the United States.Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren is returning from his first trip to China since the countries established diplomatic ties in August. Speaking on local television, Ceren said he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the visit and agreed to 13 joint projects, without providing details.The donation marks China's latest gambit to make inroads in Central America, a campaign that has drawn the ire of the United States.Earlier this year, El Salvador cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China, following the Dominican Republic and Panama. The United States promptly recalled its ambassadors in the region."This historic meeting between the governments of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of El Salvador has produced excellent results," Ceren said. "This confirms that the establishment of diplomatic relations with China is my government's most important decision in foreign policy."Senior China diplomat says US, China can resolve trade dispute through talksSpeaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the two countries had agreed to a series of cooperation projects, including in infrastructure and education, when the two presidents met in China last week."The friendly cooperation between China and El Salvador is developing smoothly and rapidly," Hua told a daily news briefing."China is willing to provide what help it can for El Salvador's economic and social development. The relevant help will be focused on people's pressing welfare needs in El Salvador," she added.The date when the funds will be received has not been set, a spokesman for the Salvadoran government said.China will also donate three thousand tons of rice to support Salvadorans who are reeling from a drought in July and floods in October, Ceren said.The White House warned in August that China was luring countries with incentives that "facilitate economic dependence and domination, not partnership."Self-ruled Taiwan has formal relations with a dwindling number of countries, almost all of them small and less developed nations in Central America and the Pacific. 
China pledges $150 million aid to El Salvador as relationship deepens
Their meeting at the G20 summit would be of "great significance" in resolving bilateral problems, Wang said.
"That will be of great significance for both sides to manage differences effectively and resolve issues in a practical way," Wang told reporters.
Wang said China stood ready to work with the United States to remove disruptions, build trust and prepare fully for the meeting.
"We believe that meeting will help chart the course for China-U.S. relations," he said, following talks with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne.
Wang added that the more complex the situation is, the more important it is for both sides to remain "level-headed".
The Chinese government's top diplomat Wang Yi said on Thursday that China and the United States can and should appropriately resolve their trade dispute through talks.Wang made the comment in a meeting with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was visiting China. Australia says it welcomes Chinese investment
Senior China diplomat says US, China can resolve trade dispute through talks
XI-TRUMP CALL
Relations between the two countries have warmed since the Xi-Trump telephone call, laying the ground for their G20 meeting.
In a further sign of improving ties, Chinese Politburo member Yang Jiechi and Defence Minister Wei Fenghe are set to hold a security and diplomatic dialogue with U.S. officials in Washington on Friday.
Meeting U.S. national security adviser John Bolton in Washington ahead of those talks, Yang said on Wednesday that the two sides should "properly manage differences and carefully prepare to ensure positive results in the Argentina meeting", China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"China is committed to working with the U.S. to achieve a no-confrontational, conflict-free, mutually respectful co-operation in which both sides win," added Yang, who heads the ruling Communist Party's foreign affairs commission and outranks Wang.
However, speaking in Singapore at a forum on Wednesday, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said there was a risk of an economic "Iron Curtain" falling between China and the United States unless China carried out reforms and that some people in the United States would like to "divorce" China.
Beijing can help avoid this happening by ending practices like forced technology transfers, and providing better protection for intellectual property, and by also genuinely allowing market forces to drive key decisions.
"If China doesn't move quickly, I suspect the calls for divorce will intensify," Paulson said.