US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will arrive in China for a
fourth time next week, meeting with Chinese leaders for talks on
economic and trade issues, his office announced on Tuesday.
The visit comes as the US Congress has renewed pressure on US
President George W. Bush over a revaluation of the yuan.
"This trip is part of an ongoing process of strengthening our
strategic economic relationship to address long term issues such as
working with China to rebalance its growth and increase the
flexibility of its currency, and also addressing short term issues
as they arise," said Paulson in a public statement.
He is scheduled to travel to Beijing next Tuesday, meeting with
President Hu Jintao and Vice-Premier Wu Yi to raise issues of
concern to the US congress, as well as following up on areas in
need of action identified at the last meeting of the Strategic
Economic Dialogue (SED) in Washington in May.
President Hu and his US counterpart George W. Bush launched the
China-US SED last year in order to provide a focused and effective
framework for addressing issues of mutual concern. The first
meeting was held in Beijing last December.
Beginning the China trip with a visit to Qinghai Lake in the
northwestern part of the country, Paulson's visit will also
highlight global environmental challenges.
"The only way to make progress on climate change is to engage
all the large economies, developed and developing, to work toward
embracing cleaner technology and reducing emissions," he said.
The Bush administration is coming under fresh pressure from
Congress to show results from the SED discussions, particularly in
currency values.
It has been reported that the US Senate Finance Committee will
begin drafting legislation tomorrow that is intended to increase
pressure on China to let its currency rise in value.
The proposals the committee aims to turn into legislation were
unveiled last month by four US senators acting after the Treasury
Department declined to name China a currency manipulator in a
semiannual report on the currency practices of key trade
partners.
Analysts have welcomed Paulson's visit as an opportunity to
maintain positive dialogue with Chinese authorities, and improve
the chance of solving trade disputes.
Guo Tianyong, a banking professor with the Central University of
Finance and Economics pointed out that China has granted foreign
banks more freedom and promoted broader participation by foreign
players in the financial market.
"The greater freedoms foreign banks enjoy is a sign of China's
willingness to open up its financial industry," Guo recently wrote,
adding that the promotion of foreign players in the financial
market was a concession reached through trade negotiations with the
US.
Guo said he expected China to continue to push forward currency
reforms in an active, gradual and controllable manner.
(China Daily July 26, 2007)
