Thu, Aug 09, 2007 - Page 1 News List

US Democrats line up to bash China

TAKEN TO THE MAT The contenders for the party's presidential nomination railed against the safety of China's food and consumer items and the yuan exchange rate

AGENCIES , CHICAGO, WITH STAFF WRITER

Obama and Edwards also suggested that Clinton was in the pocket of corporate interests.

But she hit back: "For 15 years, I have stood up against the right-wing machine, and I've come out stronger."

foreign RESERVES

Meanwhile, the possibility of China using its foreign reserves as a weapon against the US on a wider economic and diplomatic front has been aired in the Chinese media and in a report on the London-based Telegraph Web site.

The Telegraph report quoted Xia Bin (夏斌), the influential director of the Research Institute of Finance at the Development Research Center of the State Council, as saying that China's foreign exchange holdings should be used as a "bargaining chip" in bilateral talks.

The report also referred to an article in the English-language China Daily on Tuesday by He Fan (何帆), an assistant to the director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

It said US objections to the yuan exchange rate amounted to "over-concern," that cooperation with China will be endangered "if the US insists on politicizing China's exchange regime [reforms]," and that the Chinese central bank would precipitate a collapse of the US dollar if the present exchange rate is not maintained.

The author of the Telegraph report concluded that the comments represented an aggressive shift in the Beijing government's policy, though the Xinhua-affiliated Market News International Web site downplayed the comments, saying: "The reality behind the headlines doesn't point to China severing its extensive ties with the US dollar anytime soon."

This story has been viewed 3345 times.
TOP top