China, US talk on negative list positive

US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew talks about the US-China economic relationship on Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. [Photo by Chen Weihua/China Daily]

Chinese and US negotiating teams are talking in Washington this week about a revised negative list for a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) although the agreement looks unlikely to be concluded during the remaining seven months of the Obama administration. Jack Lew, the US secretary of treasury, said on Thursday that a sufficiently ambitious negative list -- where only exceptions to the treaty are specified -- from China could open a pathway to additional progress before the end of the year.

"Up till this last round, the negative list that we've seen has not been sufficiently ambitious to open enough of the economy for the BIT to have a successful path forward," he told a talk at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) on Thursday.

He said he doesn't want to comment on something that is very much a work in progress, noting the talk had been going on over the past 24 hours.

"But they certainly led us to expect that the list will be the basis for working together going forward, even though it wouldn't be the final end result. I hope that's the case when our experts go through the list and report back," he said.

Lew hopes the Chinese take advantage of the remaining seven months of the Obama administration, noting an upcoming September meeting between President Obama and President Xi Jinping in Hangzhou on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

He noted that leaders' meetings are very useful deadlines to focus attention, but said, "I can't sit here and warrant that it will be successful."

Derek Scissors, resident scholar at AEI, believes there is no chance for the BIT to pass the US Congress during Obama's remaining months in office. Most experts believe that the top priority for the US government is to make a last-ditch effort to push the Congress to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries that does not include China.

Scissors noted that the environment in the US now is very protectionist, and the immediate priority for the next administration will be domestic issues rather than any international agenda.

He agreed that the Chinese side should be negotiating in good faith. "But you don't want to give away everything to this administration because the new administration wants to put its own stamp on it," he said.