US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said he is not satisfied with China’s moves to loosen its grip on the yuan, ahead of an appearance before US lawmakers on ways to pressure Beijing.
Geithner, who will testify before the US House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that Beijing had done “very little” since pledging in June to let the yuan trade more freely.
When asked in the interview, conducted on Friday and posted on the newspaper’s Web site yesterday, whether he was satisfied with China’s progress on the issue, Geithner replied: “Of course not.”
“China took the very important step in June of signaling that they’re going to let the exchange rate start to reflect market forces. But they’ve done very, very little, they’ve let it move very, very little in the interim,” he said. “It’s very important to us, and I think it’s important to China, I think they recognise this, that you need to let it move up over a sustained period of time.”
China made the June pledge following intense pressure from the US, Europe and other trading partners for a stronger currency. The yuan had until then been effectively pegged at about 6.8 to the US dollar since 2008.
Since then the yuan has appreciated about 1 percent against the greenback, angering US lawmakers who have been calling for steps against what they see as unfair Chinese trade practices.
The People’s Bank of China yesterday set the central parity rate — the middle of the currency’s allowed trading band — at 6.7509 to the US dollar, according to chinamoney.com.cn. The exchange rate can move up or down 0.5 percent on any given trading day.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese