November 18, 2018

Chinese President Xi Jinping and United States Vice-President Mike Pence yesterday locked horns over trade and regional development as they sent starkly contrasting messages on these issues.

Mr Xi urged countries to uphold the multilateral trading system and reject protectionism and unilateralism, calling this a "shortsighted approach" that is "doomed to fail".

Speaking immediately after the Chinese leader, Mr Pence delivered a sharp critique of China's practices, saying that Beijing has taken advantage of the US for many years as it engaged in quotas, forced technology transfer and intellectual property theft. "Those days are over," he said.

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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/xi-pence-spar-over-trade-development-issues-at-apec-meet