China ready to walk away from summit with Trump, say analysts

Prospect of Xi staying away underscores how US credibility with China is on shaky ground

- Yew Lun Tian Senior Correspondent

China is prepared to walk away from an expected summit between presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump to resolve trade differences if Washington continues to act in ways that indicate bad faith, Chinese analysts say.

The prospect of Mr Xi staying away from the summit underscores the fact that Washington's credibility with Beijing is on shaky ground, after months of hard work to formalise a trade deal fell short of the finish line.

Beijing's recent moves - wider export curbs on rare earths and other critical minerals, new port fees for US ships, and an antitrust probe into an acquisition by US chip company Qualcomm - mark a sharp reversal from the conciliatory tone it had struck earlier to pave the way for a highly anticipated Xi-Trump meeting at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in South Korea later in October.

An angry Mr Trump suggested in an Oct 10 post that the planned meeting might not go ahead after he railed against China's rare earths export controls. He also warned that he would impose an additional 100 per cent tariff on Chinese goods and new export controls on critical software from Nov 1.

China has not officially responded to Mr Trump's remarks.