A high-level Chinese delegation will travel to the U.S. in the coming days for trade talks.
The crunch visit comes as the two biggest economic superpowers are still locked in an increasingly bitter trade war.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
A statement by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Thursday said it will hold a fresh round of trade talks with U.S. officials in Washington before the end of the month.
The move offers a glimmer of hope for progress in resolving the massive trade conflict between the two multi-trillion dollar economies.
The ministry says the Chinese delegation, led by Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen, will meet with American representatives led by U.S. Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs David Malpass.
It's unclear whether the trade talks will take place before or after August 23rd,... which is when Washington is due to activate additional tariffs on 16-billion dollars of Chinese goods,... an action Beijing has vowed to respond in kind to immediately.
The two countries have implemented several rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs on each others goods since the start of the year, and have threatened further tariffs on exports worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
The last round of talks took place in early June,... when U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross met Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Beijing.
However, the upcoming meeting is lower-level compared to the four previous rounds of negotiations.
The Chinese government did not say what topics would be discussed at the upcoming meeting, but reiterated Beijing's stance that it opposes "unilateralism and trade protectionism."
The U.S. Treasury Department wasn't available for comment.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.