US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Tuesday hailed US-China
Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) as helpful for bilateral economic
relationship to survive the hard times.
"The SED allowed us to build a strong relationship, which has
been useful in keeping our economic relationship on an even keel
even during the times of tension," Paulson told Xinhua in an
exclusive interview Tuesday evening immediately after his
closed-door talk with Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi.
Paulson said he and Wu had a "very constructive" discussion.
Paulson's remarks came in response to some US legislators'
criticism that the ten-month-old bilateral dialogue has not
delivered enough tangible results.
Calling the dialogue "responsible for managing the economic
relations between the two sides," Paulson said he was dealing with
"the most sensitive and difficult issues in order to maintain
confidence of both sides."
Launched in September 2006, the biannual economic strategic
dialogue between Beijing and Washington serves as a platform to
discuss long-term, strategic and comprehensive issues in the
bilateral trade relationship.
Paulson said he is "very confident" the SED is a success, as"
some progress would not have been achieved without the SED."
Paulson and Wu discussed how to pave way for the third SED, to
be held in Beijing in December.
"Both sides agreed the SED is important and that we need to work
and achieve positive outcomes for both countries." said the
treasury secretary.
He said they will have "an ambitious work schedule", focusing on
"a smaller number of" but "the most important issues". Yet he did
not release the details of the work schedule or specify the
important issues.
Paulson told Xinhua he and Wu also talked about areas such as
environment and energy efficiency, consumer food safety, product
safety, investment and balanced growth.
"When we talked about the balanced growth, I emphasized for
greater currency flexibility," he said.
Just days before Paulson's China trip, the Senate Financial
Committee overwhelmingly passed a bill that allowed the US
government to use a wide array of measures to force other countries
to adopt more market-oriented currency policies.
The bill will require the Treasury Department to identify
countries with "fundamentally misaligned" currencies.
Earlier, the Treasury refused to cite China as a currency
manipulator in its semiannual report to the Congress. "I will not
say anything other than the Treasury's view that legislation is not
the proper way to proceed and deal with the currency issue,"
Paulson told Xinhua.
"I believe it is much more productive to have bilateral talks
and engagement," Paulson said.
On food safety, Paulson said American consumers have very high
expectations when it comes to product safety and food safety and he
knows it is also a very important issue for Chinese consumers.
"We agreed in today's global market place it is important for
both countries to work together for the mutual benefit of our
citizens and make progress in these areas," he said.
Paulson said he looks forward to speaking with Chinese President
Hu Jintao Wednesday afternoon. "I will give him an update on the
political and economic situation in the United States, talk about
the importance of SED and the importance of achieving some positive
outcomes for both countries."
He traveled to China on Sunday with the first stop in northwest
China's Qinghai Province.
Paulson said he knew Qinghai is China's "Water Tower" and source
of the country's major rivers. "I am very pleased to see what the
Chinese government is doing to protect and restore this very
special area."
This is Paulson's second China visit this year, following his
brief tour in March.
Paulson met or will meet with heads of China's top economic
planning body, central bank, forestry department, regulatory
commissions of banking and securities before he ends the tour
Wednesday evening.
(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2007)
