China said yesterday the value of its yuan currency was not up for debate at an upcoming Group of 20 summit and again rejected outside interference in its foreign exchange policies.
“The [yuan] is China’s currency. This is not an issue the international community should discuss,” Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cui Tiankai (崔天凱) told reporters.
International pressure is mounting on China to revalue the yuan, which Washington says is being kept weak deliberately by Beijing to give exporters an unfair trade advantage that is leading to job losses in the US.
Sander Levin, the powerful chairman of a US congressional committee overseeing taxes and trade, said on Wednesday the June 26-June 27 G20 summit in Toronto was “an important juncture for China to change its inflexible currency practices.”
However, Zhang Tao (張濤), a top official at the People’s Bank of China, said the yuan was never on the agenda of previous G20 summits and reiterated that Beijing would adjust its currency policies at its own pace.
Zhang and Cui were speaking at a briefing on Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) participation in the summit.
Beijing maintains that letting its currency strengthen will not solve the problem of US job losses and has consistently rejected pressure on the issue.
Levin warned that China had until just after the summit to change its currency practices or face action by US Congress.
“Seven years of patience from the United States and the international community have run out,” he said.
US Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner also said last week that China’s refusal to revalue its currency impeded global economic reforms.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
TWO HEAVYWEIGHTS: Trump and Xi respect each other, are in a unique position to do something great, and they want to do that together, the US envoy to China said The administration of US President Donald Trump has told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “we don’t want any coercion, but we want [the Taiwan dispute] resolved peacefully,” US ambassador to China David Perdue said in a TV interview on Thursday. Trump “has said very clearly, we are not changing the ‘one China’ policy, we are going to adhere to the Taiwan Relations Act, the three communiques and the ‘six assurances’ that were done under [former US president Ronald] Reagan,” Perdue told Joe Kernen, cohost of CNBC’s Squawk Box. The act, the Three Joint Communiques and the “six assurances” are guidelines for Washington
DEEPENING TIES: The two are boosting cooperation in response to China’s coercive actions and have signed MOUs on search-and-rescue and anti-smuggling efforts Taiwan and Japan are moving to normalize joint coast guard training and considering the inclusion of other allies, the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. Both nations’ coast guards in June sent vessels to the seas south of the Sakishima Islands to conduct joint training, the report said, adding that it was the second joint maritime training exercise since the nations severed formal diplomatic ties in September 1972. Japan dispatched the Nagoya Coast Guard’s Mizuho, a 134m, 6,000-tonne patrol vessel which can carry a helicopter, while the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sent the 126m, 4,000-tonne Yunlin, one of its largest vessels, the report
RSS