|
China will not link yuan to textiles row
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-02 15:47
China will not link the issue of reforming its currency with an international
row over its booming textile exports, Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said on
Thursday.
Bo Xilai speaks at
a news conference in Beijing May 30, 2005.
[newsphoto] |
Trying to link the two issues would complicate an already tense debate, he
told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Asia-Pacific trade ministers on
the South Korean resort island of Cheju.
"We will not link the yuan issue with the textile issue because that is not
appropriate," he said through an English interpreter.
"If the Chinese economic circle has such a feeling that other countries are
using the textile issue as an excuse to force China to make some adjustment to
the value of its currency, then it can make the whole situation even more
complicated."
His remarks came hours after U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez arrived
in Beijing for a three-day visit to try to ease tensions in the row over textile
exports from China.
Bo also said European and U.S. pressure to curb China's textile exports could
harm talks to liberalise international trade, calling such pressure
"protectionism."
But he said China supported efforts by World Trade Organization member
countries to strike a new trade deal and would not use the row over its textile
exports to impede such efforts.
U.S. manufacturers argue that China's policy of pegging the yuan near 8.28 to
the dollar undervalues the Chinese currency by as much as 40 percent, giving
exporters there an unfair advantage in world markets.
China has long said that it intends to unshackle the yuan, also known as the
renminbi, but insists it will choose when to do that.
Bo told a news conference on Monday that China would consider its own
development and the stability of the world economy in any decision it takes
regarding the yuan.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top China
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
