US pushes China for greater market access

Guangzhou

THE United States pushed China for greater market access at annual trade talks on Sunday, though few breakthroughs are expected amid tensions over cyber hacking and rules that could hamper foreign tech firms.

Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping agreed in September that neither government would knowingly support cyber theft of corporate secrets to support domestic businesses, but US experts argue Chinese hackers have continued to penetrate US firms.

Those issues, and slow progress on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT), have combined to sour commercial relations, and experts think the meeting of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) that ends on Monday in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou …