Photo: GT

The cancellation of the APEC summit, originally scheduled for next month in Chile, where China and the US are widely expected to ink an interim trade agreement, will not affect the process as long as the two countries are committed to reaching a deal, a Chinese expert close to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Wednesday night.

If China and the US were to reach a trade deal, as they appear to do so, then arrangement for a meeting would not be a big problem and it would likely be in a neutral third-party country, Mei Xinyu, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the MOFCOM, told the Global Times.

Mei's comment came as speculations about the fate of the potential phase one trade deal between China and the US emerge after Chilean President Sebastian Pinera announced on Wednesday that Chile would no longer host the APEC summit scheduled in the capital of Santiago from November 15 to 17 as his country has to "prioritize re-establishing public order" amid violent riots.

After making positive progress in the latest round of trade talks, China and the US have been widely expected to sign a phase one trade agreement when the top leaders of the two countries meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit.

Following the news of the cancellation of the APEC summit, the White House said that the US wants to sign a trade deal with China in the "same time frame" despite the cancellation, according to AFP on Wednesday night (Beijing time).

Mei said that "the key is that the two sides will be able to reach a deal." He added that the US side appeared to "play some tricks," referring to US officials' demand of China purchasing a huge amount of US agricultural products before any deal is signed. "If they continue to play that game, it will be difficult for even reaching a deal," he said.

Overall, China and the US appear to be moving toward an interim deal. On Tuesday, Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, reiterated that the two sides have "basically completed" technical consultations on part of the text of a potential deal and that the heads of the negotiation teams of the two countries will have another phone call shortly.