G20 not the right place to discuss the yuan: FM
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The upcoming G20 summit is an "inappropriate" forum to discuss the yuan's value, China's foreign ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said at a regular press conference in Beijing Thursday.
The yuan-related comments are the latest in an ongoing dispute with Washington over the value of China's currency, which the US believes is significantly undervalued, leading to an unfair advantage for Chinese companies.
Still, with the G20 summit set to start next week, tensions between the US and China are still considered lower from where they were just a few months ago, when the US drew China's ire with the sale of more arms to Taiwan. A strategic meeting three weeks ago is believed to have calmed some concerns on both sides.
Nonetheless, China said the June 26-27 summit isn't the right place to discuss the yuan.
"The yuan exchange-rate issue was not a cause of the international financial crisis, and it is not a hurdle for world economic recovery, rebalancing or sustainable growth," Qin said.
A senior Chinese official told Reuters Thursday that "If we allow the G20 to turn into a process of finger-pointing, then it will certainly send out a very confusing and misleading signal to the markets and to the general public."
These comments were made in response to renewed pressure from Washington on Beijing to let the yuan currency rise, with lawmakers threatening to vote on legislation to push China to make a move on the yuan.
"If China does not act, and the administration does not respond promptly thereafter, the Congress will act," Sander Levin, chairman of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, said Wednesday in Washington at a hearing on China's trade policies.
Charles Schumer, a senior Democrat in the Senate, has proposed a bill that would allow US businesses to incorporate estimates of currency undervaluation in the "countervailing duties" they can impose on imports deemed to be unfairly subsidized, the Financial Times reported.
These threats follow comments by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who said last week that the yuan was a hurdle to global rebalancing.
