Mattis cancels his trip to China in a moment of tension between Washington and Beijing
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis canceled a trip he was scheduled to make to China this October to discuss security issues, due to growing tension between Washington and Beijing, Pentagon sources told Efe on Friday.
The sources did not offer more details about it.
For its part, CNN, which quoted official sources, said the cancellation of this visit, whose dates were not announced, is due to the escalation of tension between the two countries in recent months for several issues, including the commercial war.
Since September 24, the United States has imposed tariffs of 10% worth 200,000 million dollars on Chinese products, which has been the third round of sanctions by Washington to the Asian giant.
The Chinese Government responded to this measure by applying US $ 60 billion in levies to US agricultural products.
The first battery of sanctions by the US Government it was applied in July and meant a levy on Chinese imports (the majority of the technology sector) for 34,000 million dollars, while the second was for 16,000 million dollars.
In addition, in mid-September, the US president, Donald Trump, publicly accused China of trying to move forward in the legislative elections that will take place in November.
Already on a strictly military level, Washington's decision to impose sanctions on the firm Equipment Development Department (EDD) -responsible for arms and equipment of the Chinese Army- and its director, Li Shangfu, for having purchased weapons from the state company Rosoboronexport, the largest Russian arms exporter.
The Chinese government reacted by summoning the US ambassador to Beijing, Terry Branstad, to whom he filed a formal complaint about this measure.
