A prominent US lawmaker scolded US President Barack Obama’s administration on Sunday for delaying the release of a report that could declare China a currency manipulator and lead the way to trade sanctions.
“We have a real problem with the Chinese. They are very shrewd and customarily they outmaneuver us,” said Democratic senator Arlen Specter, one of many US lawmakers clamoring for China to revalue its overpriced yuan.
“They take our jobs. They take our money and then they lend it back to us and own a big part of America,” Specter told the Fox News Sunday TV show, adding: “I’m not too happy about a delay.”
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Saturday delayed a semi-annual report scheduled for April 15 that could have declared that China was manipulating the value of its yuan, paving the way for trade sanctions.
The delay was widely expected after China said President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) would visit Washington for a summit on nuclear security starting next Monday.
China watchers say Hu would not dare come and risk the loss of face of a reprimand days later unless he had at least an informal assurance from Treasury.
Specter said efforts to placate Beijing might be aimed at getting China’s support for Iran sanctions, but insisted that “we can’t stand back and let them manipulate the currency and run us ragged on the economy.”
“The trade imbalance is now US$337 billion in Chinese imports to the United States — about a fifth of that from the US to China. So I’d like to see our system on a level playing field,” Specter said.
He said that he and fellow Congress members would closely “watch exactly what’s happening” with China’s undervalued currency, particularly its effect on economically depressed areas like his rustbelt state of Pennsylvania.
“If we face up to the currency issue, the steel industry can provide a lot more jobs in my state and across the country,” Specter said.
Expectations have been rising that China will revalue its currency after Washington held off on potential reprisals, but any adjustment may not be enough to mollify the anger of US lawmakers and firms.
Neither White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers nor fellow adviser Christina Romer would publicly back claims by some lawmakers that China manipulates its currency at the expense of US jobs.
Summers told ABC’s This Week that “no one can be satisfied where we are” on the trade imbalance, but that the decision to delay the report was not calculated to engage China on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and other delicate issues.
Summers said economic issues are key to US diplomacy and the administration prefers to take advantage of upcoming high-level US-China economic meetings in Beijing as well as G20 meetings later this spring to address the currency issue.
“Those are opportunities to engage with China, to engage with other countries that have large trade surpluses, other countries who think they can continue to rely on the United States as an importer of last resort,” Summers said.
Romer told NBC’s Meet the Press that the issue would be “high on the agenda,” but that ultimately the yuan “needs to be more influenced by market forces.”
The US strategy is to build momentum to cast the matter as one of persuading China to accept greater responsibility as a global trade partner and boost US exports.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique