Ambassador Qin Gang continues push to enlist US business allies against Washington’s China trade policy

For the second time in two weeks, a senior Chinese diplomat in the US speaks with members of the business and trade community about tensions with Washington

Event at Chinese embassy in Washington includes port and trade union executives hailing 20 years of cargo shipments between Boston and the Chinese giant Cosco

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The Hong Kong-flagged Ever Fortune container ship, which docked in Boston on Sunday, is the size of three football fields. Photo: Port of Boston

Published: 7:53am, 22 Jan 2022Updated: 8:34am, 22 Jan 2022

Flanked by port and trade union executives from Massachusetts, China’s top diplomat in Washington denounced the US-China trade war on Friday, the latest effort to enlist the US business and trade community – and even some state governments – as potential allies to pressure Washington away from its hard-line China policy.

“Our trade has provided many quality but inexpensive products for American consumers,” Ambassador Qin Gang said during an event at the Chinese embassy hailing 20 years of cargo shipments between Boston and the Chinese state-owned shipping giant Cosco.

It was the second time in two weeks that a senior Chinese diplomat in the US had spoken publicly with members of the business and trade community about tensions with Washington.

Last week, China’s consul-general in New York told a business group that he was confident that he could “always count on the business-community support in the future”.

Qin Gang is the Chinese ambassador to Washington. Photo: Kaveh Sardari

US-China tensions have soared in recent years over tariffs and trade disputes, suspected human rights abuses in China’s far-west Xinjiang region, a crackdown on civil rights in Hong Kong, sabre-rattling in the Taiwan Strait and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.