Obama urges decision on yuan
By Paul Eckert and Tabassum Zakaria |
April 15, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
UNITED States President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that China had yet to set a timetable for reforming the yuan despite "frank" conversations with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
A Chinese spokesman said the country would not bow to foreign pressure on currency reform.
Obama spoke at a news conference at the end of a nuclear security summit in Washington where the two leaders met on Monday for the first time since Sino-US tensions over the yuan had threatened to escalate into a serious dispute.
"With respect to the currency issue, President Hu and I have had a number of frank conversations," Obama told reporters.
"I have been very clear of the fact that it is my estimation that the yuan is undervalued, and that China's own decision in previous years to begin to move toward a more market-oriented approach is the right one," Obama said.
"So I don't have a timetable, but it is my hope that China will make a decision that will ultimately be in their best interest."
Hu did not make public remarks on the yuan in Washington on Tuesday, but Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai reiterated Hu's assertion the previous day that the currency decision was an "internal affair" and would be made based on China's economic situation.
"On this issue, it is not justified for outsiders to exert pressure, and we will not take action by bowing to this pressure," Cui told a news briefing in Washington.
Blaming China's exchange rates for global economic problems is "just a like a situation where you have caught a cold, but ask your neighbor to take the medicine," Cui added. Although Hu said China would base any decision on the yuan on its own economic needs, he also made it clear that the government was committed to change.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged China to answer international concerns about exchange rate policy, but also said the decision was up to China.
"We are going to be very forceful and aggressive in making sure that we are promoting changes that offer the prospects of a level playing field," Geithner told a meeting of the American Society of News Editors.
The US trade deficit with China narrowed to its lowest level in nearly a year in February as imports from China dropped.
A Chinese spokesman said the country would not bow to foreign pressure on currency reform.
Obama spoke at a news conference at the end of a nuclear security summit in Washington where the two leaders met on Monday for the first time since Sino-US tensions over the yuan had threatened to escalate into a serious dispute.
"With respect to the currency issue, President Hu and I have had a number of frank conversations," Obama told reporters.
"I have been very clear of the fact that it is my estimation that the yuan is undervalued, and that China's own decision in previous years to begin to move toward a more market-oriented approach is the right one," Obama said.
"So I don't have a timetable, but it is my hope that China will make a decision that will ultimately be in their best interest."
Hu did not make public remarks on the yuan in Washington on Tuesday, but Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai reiterated Hu's assertion the previous day that the currency decision was an "internal affair" and would be made based on China's economic situation.
"On this issue, it is not justified for outsiders to exert pressure, and we will not take action by bowing to this pressure," Cui told a news briefing in Washington.
Blaming China's exchange rates for global economic problems is "just a like a situation where you have caught a cold, but ask your neighbor to take the medicine," Cui added. Although Hu said China would base any decision on the yuan on its own economic needs, he also made it clear that the government was committed to change.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged China to answer international concerns about exchange rate policy, but also said the decision was up to China.
"We are going to be very forceful and aggressive in making sure that we are promoting changes that offer the prospects of a level playing field," Geithner told a meeting of the American Society of News Editors.
The US trade deficit with China narrowed to its lowest level in nearly a year in February as imports from China dropped.
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