|
WASHINGTON — The United States and China inaugurated two days of high-level talks on Monday, exchanging promises of great-power cooperation on weighty issues like climate change while steering clear of potential conflicts over exchange rates and human rights. President Obama, saying that ties between the countries are as “important as any bilateral relationship in the world,” welcomed senior Chinese leaders to the meetings here, which were jointly led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. “I have no illusions that the United States and China will agree on every issue, nor choose to see the world in the same way,” Mr. Obama said. “But that only makes dialogue more important.” Ticking off a long list of priorities, the president said the two countries would seek ways to work together on economic recovery, climate change, clean-energy technology, nuclear nonproliferation, counterterrorism and humanitarian disasters like the one in Darfur, Sudan. Analysts said the United States seemed eager to play down areas of friction like China’s currency policy, in part because the Obama administration does not want to antagonize Beijing, its largest foreign creditor, when Washington is running a yawning deficit. “This is not an issue that the administration is banging the table on,” said Myron Brilliant, senior vice president for international affairs at the United States Chamber of Commerce. The meetings, called the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, are a successor to a wide-ranging consultation begun during the Bush administration by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. Mrs. Clinton pushed for the State Department to take an equal role in the talks, previously weighted toward economic issues. By broadening the scope, China and the United States were able to forge common cause on issues like North Korea. Mrs. Clinton praised the Chinese government last week for doing more to support American efforts to pressure Pyongyang. “At this point, the relationship is basically in good shape,” said Kenneth G. Lieberthal, who worked on China policy in the Clinton White House. “But I don’t think anyone can assume things will remain in good shape, given the difficulty of the issues.” Mr. Obama referred frankly to tensions over human rights, saying that the United States believes the “that all peoples should be free to speak their minds — and that includes ethnic and religious minorities in China.” But he expressed respect for what he called an “ancient and dynamic” society, and noted that he had named two Chinese-Americans to his cabinet: Steven Chu, the energy secretary, and Gary Locke, the commerce secretary. Mr. Chu later made a presentation on climate change. The Chinese delegation was led by Wang Qishan, a vice premier who oversees economic policy, and Dai Bingguo, a state councilor responsible for foreign policy. Mr. Dai said the upheaval of the recent economic crisis had united the two countries. “We’re actually in the same big boat that has been hit by fierce wind and huge waves,” he said. While there are nascent signs of recovery in both countries, Mr. Obama stressed the need for Americans to save more and for Chinese consumers to spend more. The Americans told the Chinese they would have to adjust to higher household savings in the United States, said David Loevinger, the Treasury’s senior coordinator for the meetings. Mr. Loevinger said American officials did broach the issue of China’s exchange rate, which Beijing deliberately keeps depressed to bolster its exports. But he declined to characterize the exchange. Arvind Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said, “The currency issue is going to remain important because of the need to get to ‘balanced growth.’ ” Some of the more contentious issues may be taken up on Tuesday. For example, the United States had yet to register its dissatisfaction with government procurement rules in China that favor Chinese manufacturers. “Let’s be honest,” Mr. Obama said, “some in China think that America will try to contain China’s ambitions; some in America that think there is something to fear in a rising China. I take a different view.” Source: NY Times |
The world might be in the middle of an economic downturn, however things are looking up for China's stock markets. China Mobile said that it is seeking a