Currency bill threat issued again
By Feng Jianmin |
October 20, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA will have to take action if US legislation to punish countries it deems to have depressed their currencies becomes law, a Ministry of Commerce spokesman said yesterday - the latest protest to the bill already passed by the US Senate.
The ministry also warned other countries not to use China's trade surplus to pressure it to revalue its currency while predicting that China could face a "quite grim prospect" for trade amid new global uncertainties.
"The US Senate's move to force its trading partners' currencies to appreciate through the passing of law is in violation of international rules and the country's obligations to the world," said Shen Danyang, spokesman of the ministry, at a press conference in Beijing.
"If the United States insists on doing things in its own way, it will harm China-US relations and the long-term benefit of people from the two countries. China will have to take further actions," he said.
China sold US$36.5 billion in US bonds in August, cutting its holdings to US$1.137 trillion, the US Treasury Department said on Tuesday.
China is still the largest buyer of the US government debt but its holdings dropped to their lowest level of the year after Standard & Poor's downgraded the US credit rating in August, citing the country's political gridlock and a rising debt burden.
Don't make it 'political'
"China hopes the US doesn't turn an economic problem into a political one and doesn't force others to take medicine when the country itself is suffering an illness," spokesman Shen said yesterday.
China's commerce and foreign ministries and its central bank have all protested on several occasions after the US Senate passed a bill that would pressure China to revalue its currency by allowing US companies on a case-by-case basis to seek countervailing duties on goods from countries with an "undervalued currency." The US House of Representatives has not taken up the bill, and President Barack Obama, who would have to sign it for it to become law, has expressed reservations about it.
China has warned such a law could trigger a trade war and hinder global economic recovery.
China will keep its currency "basically stable," Shen said yesterday, echoing previous remarks by the central bank that China will retain a "gradual reform" of the yuan according to its own needs.
China's central bank has been setting the central parity rate of the yuan at above 6.37 to the US dollar since last Wednesday, weakening from a 17-year-record of 6.348 reached on October 11.
Shen predicted trade growth will retreat later this year due to such factors as rising costs, exchange rate changes and carryover effects, even though he believed overall that "China's foreign trade maintained stable and relatively fast growth in the first three quarters" and "is in good operation."
The ministry also warned other countries not to use China's trade surplus to pressure it to revalue its currency while predicting that China could face a "quite grim prospect" for trade amid new global uncertainties.
"The US Senate's move to force its trading partners' currencies to appreciate through the passing of law is in violation of international rules and the country's obligations to the world," said Shen Danyang, spokesman of the ministry, at a press conference in Beijing.
"If the United States insists on doing things in its own way, it will harm China-US relations and the long-term benefit of people from the two countries. China will have to take further actions," he said.
China sold US$36.5 billion in US bonds in August, cutting its holdings to US$1.137 trillion, the US Treasury Department said on Tuesday.
China is still the largest buyer of the US government debt but its holdings dropped to their lowest level of the year after Standard & Poor's downgraded the US credit rating in August, citing the country's political gridlock and a rising debt burden.
Don't make it 'political'
"China hopes the US doesn't turn an economic problem into a political one and doesn't force others to take medicine when the country itself is suffering an illness," spokesman Shen said yesterday.
China's commerce and foreign ministries and its central bank have all protested on several occasions after the US Senate passed a bill that would pressure China to revalue its currency by allowing US companies on a case-by-case basis to seek countervailing duties on goods from countries with an "undervalued currency." The US House of Representatives has not taken up the bill, and President Barack Obama, who would have to sign it for it to become law, has expressed reservations about it.
China has warned such a law could trigger a trade war and hinder global economic recovery.
China will keep its currency "basically stable," Shen said yesterday, echoing previous remarks by the central bank that China will retain a "gradual reform" of the yuan according to its own needs.
China's central bank has been setting the central parity rate of the yuan at above 6.37 to the US dollar since last Wednesday, weakening from a 17-year-record of 6.348 reached on October 11.
Shen predicted trade growth will retreat later this year due to such factors as rising costs, exchange rate changes and carryover effects, even though he believed overall that "China's foreign trade maintained stable and relatively fast growth in the first three quarters" and "is in good operation."
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