China and the United States will maintain close contact on economic and trade issues in several ways and continue their talks, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

The heads of both consultation teams have discussed the remaining issues, following the latest round of trade talks in Washington, said ministry spokesman Gao Feng.

In the ninth round of high-level consultations, they discussed technology transfers, protection of intellectual property rights, nontariff measures, the service sector, agriculture, trade imbalances and enforcement mechanisms, and they made new progress, Gao said at a regular news briefing.

The world's two biggest economies are intensifying their negotiations to iron out differences on certain issues. Gao said the two teams will continue their talks in a bid to implement consensuses reached by the countries' top leaders.

The presidents of China and the US agreed in December to halt the imposition of new tariffs, and instructed their economic teams to advance negotiations toward the removal of all additional tariffs and reach a mutually beneficial deal.

Last year, China-US trade disputes led to substantial tariff hikes on each other's imports, creating difficulties for companies around the world.

Small businesses in the Asia-Pacific region are more likely to expect a negative effect on their business from trade tensions, according to survey results released on Tuesday by accounting association CPA Australia.

Conditions for small businesses were slightly weaker across the region in 2018, with 2 percent fewer respondents reporting growth compared with the previous annual survey, said Derek Chan, president of the CPA Australia North China Committee. He cited global trade tensions as the primary reason for a general weakening in confidence.

The tensions go beyond tariffs. The US Commerce Department said on Wednesday it is adding more than 30 Chinese companies and schools to a red-flag list of "unverified" entities that US companies should treat with caution, according to a notice in the US Federal Register, Reuters reported.

Gao said such an action has a negative impact on Chinese companies' reputations and creates obstacles to normal bilateral trade.

China opposes the US using national security as an excuse and abusing export control measures for other purposes, Gao said.

China urges the US to correct its "wrong practices" in a timely manner, remove relevant enterprises from the list and facilitate trade and cooperation by companies from both countries, Gao said.

Aisin Nantong Technical Center, a Chinese subsidiary of a Japanese auto parts manufacturer, and Beijing Bayi Space LCD Materials Technology Co are on the list. Several others specialize in precision optics, electronics, machine tools or aviation.