US Treasury chief Henry Paulson voiced his opposition to a bill that would enable Washington to punish China for its weak currency, ahead of a meeting yesterday with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
"I will not say anything other than the Treasury's view that legislation is not the proper way to proceed and deal with the currency issue," Paulson told China's official Xinhua news agency in an interview. "I believe it is much more productive to have bilateral talks and engagement."
Paulson was referring to a bill passed by the Senate Financial Committee last week that would allow the US government to push other countries to adopt more market-based currency policies or face sanctions.
Paulson, on the final day of a visit to China to discuss a high-level biannual Sino-US Strategic Economic Dialogue, met Hu yesterday afternoon.
Earlier yesterday, Paulson met Shang Fulin (
The Strategic Economic Dialogue covers a range of economic and environmental areas but the issue at the forefront is the yuan, seen by US lawmakers as grossly undervalued to give China an unfair trade advantage.
With Paulson wrapping up his visit, the US Senate Banking Committee is also due to consider another bill that would make it harder for Treasury to avoid a finding that China and other countries have "misaligned currencies."
Paulson has joined Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and US Trade Representative Susan Schwab in sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to oppose both pieces of legislation.
The letter, dated July 30, said that since the Strategic Economic Dialogue with China began last year, the yuan's rate of appreciation has tripled and argued that either of the bills now being considered would undo this progress.
"These bills will not accomplish our shared goal of persuading China to implement economic reforms and move more quickly to a market-determined exchange rate," they wrote.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS