Beijing, August 28: China has on Tuesday rejected an appeal for an American navy vessel to visit Qingdao port city of China in recent days amid tense ties between world’s two largest economies, a United States defence official stated.
The US official, in an exclusive interview and speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the American warship was supposed to pay a visit to the Chinese port on Sunday but Beijing dismissed the request, according to Al-Jazeera.
The development marked the second time when Beijing has turned down a US request this month, with earlier rejection to a request for two American navy warships to travel Hong Kong, as pro-democracy events deepened in the ex-British colony.
American military vessels have visited China, occasionally, and most recent in 2017, the US defence official said. In 2016, US navy warship, destroyer Benfold, made the latest visit to Qingdao port.
In addition, the Chinese defence ministry didn’t offer an immediate response to a request for comments.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump has said China was keen to roll back to the “calm” negotiation table and that the world’s two largest economies were expected to kick-off their trade talks soon.
Trump praised and welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s willing to crack a trade deal in the midst of ongoing trade war, on the sidelines of the G7 summit held in the French city of Biarritz.
Trump said Bejing called last night “our top trade people and said ‘let’s get back to the table’ so we will be getting back to the table and I think they want to do something”.
He added China have been hurt very badly with US tariffs on Chinese export but understand “this is the right thing to do and I have great respect for it. This is a very positive development for the world”.
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