US-China Meeting Starts With Call for Fair Exchange Rate

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report, from voaspecialenglish.com | facebook.com/voalearningenglish American Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner recently urged China to let the exchange value of its money rise. Mister Geithner was among top officials from both countries who gathered in Beijing for the U.S.-China Strategic Dialogue. Their goal was to increase cooperation on security and economic issues.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke as the meeting opened on May third. She said the two sides were working to build a relationship so that both countries grow without unhealthy competition or conflict.She noted that nations must deal with issues of economics and international politics in a way that is not 'win or lose', or what she called zero-sum. Secretary Clinton also said that both the United States and China have to meet responsibilities to their own citizens and the international community. The value of China's money, the yuan, was among the economic issues discussed at the meeting. In early May, the exchange rate was over six yuan to the American dollar. The United States says China intervenes in foreign currency markets to keep the exchange value of the yuan low. A lower value means Chinese exports are less costly than their competitors. Critics also say China unfairly supports its industries with many other forms of government support. Last year, America's trade deficit with China reached a record two hundred ninety-five billion dollars. At the talks with American officials, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan defended his country's money policy. He said China is moving at a measured rate to make its currency more flexible. And he urged the United States not to "politicize" economic issues. Mister Wang also called on the United States to ease controls on high-technology exports and increase Chinese access to financial markets. Secretary Geithner said China had moved toward a better way of valuing the yuan. But he said more reform was needed. He said a strong, more market-determined yuan will help strengthen China's economic reform goal of moving toward higher value-added production. Currency reform, said Mister Geithner, also was important to China's financial system and to increasing consumer demand at home. For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villarreal. You can find more news about economics at voaspecialenglish.com.(Adapted from a radio program broadcast 04May2012)