US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Thursday that China is unlikely to overtake the US as the world's largest economy, and in fact faces important "downside" risks.
China must accelerate reforms to rebalance its breakneck growth both for its own good and for that of the world economy, Paulson said in an interview with Fox News.
Asked if China, given its double-digit rates of growth, could surpass the US as the world's pre-eminent economy, the Treasury secretary said past performance was no guarantee of the future.
Those who make that claim "look at the past and want to extrapolate future growth from the past and just assume that the economy will keep going up at the rate it has been growing and defy economic gravity," he said.
"They are assuming that somehow or other China will be immune from all of the economic issues and problems that confront the rest of the world," he said.
"As the economy gets bigger and bigger and as they are part way from an economy which is centrally planned to one that is market driven, it is increasingly important that they move ahead quickly with their reforms," he added.
"I think that there's more risk on the downside for China, although I am an optimist," the Treasury secretary said.
During a visit to China last month, Paulson inaugurated a high-level economic dialogue with Chinese leaders designed to thrash out the longer-term challenges posed by the country's dramatic growth.
But more immediately, Paulson is under pressure from some in Congress to get tough over Chinese trade practices.
His comments came on the day that new data showed the US trade deficit surged to a record US$69.9 billion in August owing to a surge in imports of cheap Chinese goods and expensive oil, the government said on Thursday.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
The nation’s usually punctual high-speed rail system yesterday was hit by major disruptions after all scheduled services were canceled and replaced with three hourly trains offering only non-reserved seating, affecting more than 200,000 passengers. Preliminary findings indicate the disruption was caused by a faulty power module in a track switch control cabinet, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said, adding that as a full system inspection could only be conducted after operations end for the day, a decision on whether normal service would resume today would be announced before the first train departs. During a routine inspection early yesterday, a switch signal abnormality
RSS