Japan pushes China on a revalued yuan
Reuters
Published: Thursday, January 21, 2010
Japan supports sending a "collective message" to China at a G7 meeting next month to allow more flexibility in the yuan, a government official said on Wednesday.
China has come under heavy pressure from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations to revalue its currency, which some economists say is kept artificially low, giving it an unfair export advantage and hindering more balanced economic growth.
Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who will chair the meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors in Iqaluit in February, said on Wednesday he had agreed to Japan's request to discuss the China issue at the meeting but he did not say whether he supported issuing a joint message. The G7 will not issue a communique.
The remarks by Rintaro Tamaki, Japan's vice-minister of finance for international affairs, echoed concerns expressed by Flaherty and senior Canadian officials who have said they would like to see the yuan move more freely.
Flaherty, stressing that the G7 meeting will be less formal than usual, has been outspoken on the need for a more flexible yuan.
"It is a concern when people ask about the weakness in the American dollar . . . one has to look at the fact that some of the Asian currencies, including the Chinese currency, are artificially constrained," he said.
Tamaki's remarks offered additional evidence that Japan stands with other G7 members to press China on the issue.
China has shrugged off pressure from its major trading partners to let the yuan appreciate, repeating its line that stability was in everybody's best interests.
Reform of China's exchange-rate policy will be gradual as exports are likely to take a long time to return to pre-crisis levels, the country's commerce minister said on Tuesday.
The disagreement has highlighted the failure of big countries to resolve currency tensions thrown into focus by the global crisis, despite calls at a summit meeting last September for those issues to be tackled.
However, moves by China's central bank this month to tighten liquidity and cool rapid economic growth have stoked expectations that Beijing may allow the yuan to appreciate before too long.
The Province 2010
Reuters
Published: Thursday, January 21, 2010
Japan supports sending a "collective message" to China at a G7 meeting next month to allow more flexibility in the yuan, a government official said on Wednesday.
China has come under heavy pressure from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations to revalue its currency, which some economists say is kept artificially low, giving it an unfair export advantage and hindering more balanced economic growth.
Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who will chair the meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors in Iqaluit in February, said on Wednesday he had agreed to Japan's request to discuss the China issue at the meeting but he did not say whether he supported issuing a joint message. The G7 will not issue a communique.
The remarks by Rintaro Tamaki, Japan's vice-minister of finance for international affairs, echoed concerns expressed by Flaherty and senior Canadian officials who have said they would like to see the yuan move more freely.
Flaherty, stressing that the G7 meeting will be less formal than usual, has been outspoken on the need for a more flexible yuan.
"It is a concern when people ask about the weakness in the American dollar . . . one has to look at the fact that some of the Asian currencies, including the Chinese currency, are artificially constrained," he said.
Tamaki's remarks offered additional evidence that Japan stands with other G7 members to press China on the issue.
China has shrugged off pressure from its major trading partners to let the yuan appreciate, repeating its line that stability was in everybody's best interests.
Reform of China's exchange-rate policy will be gradual as exports are likely to take a long time to return to pre-crisis levels, the country's commerce minister said on Tuesday.
The disagreement has highlighted the failure of big countries to resolve currency tensions thrown into focus by the global crisis, despite calls at a summit meeting last September for those issues to be tackled.
However, moves by China's central bank this month to tighten liquidity and cool rapid economic growth have stoked expectations that Beijing may allow the yuan to appreciate before too long.
The Province 2010