US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Monday that Chinese officials made it clear at a US-China summit that they wanted the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened without restrictions or tariffs and that Beijing would act pragmatically to limit military support for Iran, Reuters reported.
"It is really important for China to have an open Strait of Hormuz, without tariffs, without military control, and that was clear from the meeting. So we welcome that," Greer told Bloomberg Television in a live interview from Beijing, where he was attending meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"In terms of Chinese involvement in Iran, our view is that the Chinese are very pragmatic and don't want to be on the wrong side," Greer added. "They want to see peace in this region. President Trump wants to see peace in this region. So we have great confidence that they will do what they can to limit any kind of material support for Iran."
The United States expects China to commit to buying "tens of billions" worth of U.S. agricultural products after the summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Beijing, Jamieson Greer also said.
Greer noted the deal for 25 million tons of soybeans per year agreed in October last year, and said the US also expects "to see an agreement to buy tens of billions of dollars worth of agricultural products over the next three years annually as a result of this visit".
"And that's more general, that's general. "It's not just soybeans, it's everything else," he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Soybeans are the largest U.S. export to China, the world's largest buyer, and the oilseed has played a key role in trade talks during the first and second Trump administrations, Reuters recalled. Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lun said on Monday that he thanked the United States for its repeated expressions of support and commitment to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait ahead of the second day of President Donald Trump's state visit to China, Reuters reported. Lin also thanked the United States in the statement for "reiterating that our policy on Taiwan remains unchanged," with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirming yesterday that Taiwan had been a topic of conversation with President Xi Jinping.