REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

A former top Chinese trade official says China wants four more years of President Donald Trump because he's easy to read.

"We want Trump to be reelected — we would be glad to see that happen," Long Yongtu, the former vice-minister of foreign trade, said, according to the South China Morning Post.

Trump's daily Twitter feed allows China to gauge his thoughts ahead of talks, Long said.

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One of China's former top trade officials says the country wants four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House because his personality and tweets make him "easy to read" when it comes to trade negotiations.

"We want Trump to be reelected — we would be glad to see that happen," Long Yongtu, the former vice-minister of foreign trade, said at a conference in Shenzhen on Thursday, according to the South China Morning Post.

At the event, Long discussed the trade war and how Trump's daily Twitter feed allowed China to gauge his thoughts ahead of talks.

"Trump talks about material interests, not politics," Long said, adding, "Such an opponent is the best choice for negotiations."

Just last week, China said it had a plan to roll back trade-war tariffs with the US, just as the US signaled it might be backing down on trade. Trump later denied that a tariff-rolldown agreement had been reached.

Long, known as being responsible for getting China into the World Trade Organization in 2001, has criticized China's handling of the trade war in the past, saying Beijing had not been thinking "deeply enough."

"He makes the US decision-making process efficient and transparent, because he basically says what it is," Long said at Credit Suisse's China Investment Conference, according to the Post. "The pros of [having Trump] outweigh the cons. We don't need to spend so much time figuring out what Americans want anymore, or search for each other's real thoughts in the dark, like we used to."

"The trade frictions with China are just part of Trump's global protectionist strategy," Long added, according to the Post.

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