【英语中国】中美“对话” 贸易为重

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner plans to press Chinese officials to improve the climate for U.S. firms trying to do business in China during a high-level dialogue in Beijing next week.

Mr. Geithner is expected to urge Chinese officials to reverse policies that limit the ability of foreign companies, including U.S. firms, to compete, and to argue that Beijing's efforts to relax discriminatory rules don't go far enough, according to U.S. government officials.

'We need to continue to work to make sure that American companies are competing on a level playing field,' Mr. Geithner said during remarks in Seattle on Tuesday. 'The Chinese government has taken some steps to address these concerns, but we have some more work to do in this area.'

Another key U.S. goal -- persuading China to allow its currency to appreciate -- may not dominate discussions as originally expected, due to concerns over Europe's ability to contain its sovereign-debt crisis. That could anger some U.S. lawmakers who allege that China undervalues the yuan against the U.S. dollar to give its exports a competitive advantage.

Mr. Geithner will be joined by several officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, for the annual U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue, to be held May 24 and 25 in Beijing. The meeting is the latest opportunity to address trade and strategic issues that exacerbated bilateral tensions earlier this year.

Last month, Mr. Geithner said he planned to use the dialogue, as well as multilateral discussions in June, to push China toward a more market-oriented exchange rate. He delayed a report to Congress on the currency policies of major trading partners, including China, saying the coming meetings 'are the best avenue for advancing U.S. interests at this time.' Now, many observers think the turmoil in Europe could further delay any move by China away from the yuan's de facto peg to the U.S. dollar.

'If you already were on the margin about revaluing the yuan or taking a chance on shifting the exchange-rate regime, the ongoing events in Europe are hardly going to push you over the line into moving,' said Kenneth Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard University. 'The last thing the Chinese seek is to make their financial markets more volatile.'

New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer said, 'The Chinese always have a reason to delay . . . . Europe shouldn't change the need and fairness of obtaining the currency appreciation.' Mr. Schumer has introduced legislation that would require the U.S. to impose tariffs and other penalties on countries that don't address misaligned currencies.

Although China's exports have performed strongly in recent months, Chinese officials worry about the prospect of a slowdown in the European Union, China's largest export market.

With the euro dropping sharply, the yuan is now up by more than 15% against the European currency this year. That has 'created great cost pressures for China's exporters,' Yao Jian, a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman, said Monday.

Mr. Geithner, however, is expected to cite the turmoil in Europe as a reason why China should rebalance its economy -- including by appreciating its currency -- and begin moving away from its dependence on exports, according to a U.S. government official.

The economic plank of the discussions is likely to be dominated by concerns over trade policies in both countries. In the U.S., many businesses have complained in recent months that protectionist policies in China are threatening their long-term growth in a key market.

Last month, China took steps that appeared to soften rules limiting the access of foreign businesses to a government-procurement market valued at billions of dollars a year. But U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, who will also participate in the dialogue, on Tuesday suggested Beijing hasn't done enough.

'We appreciate efforts China's government has made to address our concern, but we have urged them to refrain from further steps down this path,' he told the Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Geithner said the U.S. shares the concerns of businesses that China's approach 'has the potential to discriminate against foreign-made products and could disadvantage American exporters and investors.'

He said the 'challenge is to help make sure that China does more to protect intellectual-property rights and reduces subsidies and other preferences to domestic companies. We want China to give American firms the same opportunities to compete in China that Chinese firms face in the United States.'

The Chinese have their own concerns about U.S. trade policies, specifically efforts by U.S. industries to block what they view as unfair competition from Chinese imports.

美国财政部长蒂莫西•盖特纳(Timothy Geithner)计划于下周在北京举行的一次高级别对话期间，力促中国官员为试图在中国经商的美国企业改善环境。

美国政府官员说，预计盖特纳将敦促中国官员取消那些限制外企（包括美国公司）竞争能力的政策，并指出北京方面放宽歧视性规定的措施还做得不够。

Xinhua/Zumapress美国财政部长盖特纳盖特纳周二在美国西雅图发言时说，我们需要继续做工作，确保美国公司是在公平的环境中竞争；中国政府已经采取了一些措施来解决这方面的问题，但我们在这方面还要再做一些事情。

美方的另一个重要目标是劝说中国允许人民币升值。但随着欧洲能否遏制主权债务危机的问题引起担忧，这个目标可能不会像起初预料的那样成为对话的主要议题。这种情况或将惹恼美国国会的一些议员，他们声称，中国让人民币对美元处于低估状态，使其出口产品获得了竞争优势。

一年一度的中美战略与经济对话将于5月24日至25日在北京举行。另几位美国官员也将和盖特纳一起参加对话，包括国务卿希拉里•克林顿(Hillary Clinton)和商务部部长骆家辉(Gary Locke)。一些贸易与战略问题曾在今年早些时候加剧了两国之间的紧张关系，而此次对话则是解决这些问题的最新机会。

盖特纳在上个月说，他计划利用这次对话和6月份的多边会谈向中国施压，使之实行一种更加市场化的汇率机制。盖特纳要向美国国会提交一份有关中国等主要贸易伙伴国汇率政策的报告，他把这份报告的提交日期向后推迟，说接下来的会谈是在这个时候推进美国利益的最佳平台。现在很多观察人士都认为，欧洲的动荡局势可能会进一步推迟中国可能采取的、让人民币与美元脱钩的措施。

哈佛大学(Harvard University)经济学教授肯尼思•罗格夫(Kenneth Rogoff)说，如果你已经在准备迎接人民币的重估，或下注于中国汇率机制的改革，那么欧洲的正在发生的各种事情，很难让你采取实际行动；不到万不得已，中国人是不会让自己的金融市场更加动荡的。

美国纽约州民主党参议员舒默(Charles Schumer)说，中国人总是有理由推迟。欧洲的问题不会改变人民币汇率升值的必要性和公平性。舒默已提交议案要求美国对未解决不合理汇率问题的国家施加关税及其它惩罚措施。

尽管近几个月中国的出口表现强劲，但中国官员担心中国最大的出口市场──欧盟的经济增长前景将会放缓。

由于欧元大幅贬值，今年人民币兑欧元汇率已升值15%以上。周一，中国商务部发言人姚坚说，这对中国企业出口成本造成极大压力。

然而，据美国官员称，预计盖特纳将会以欧洲危机为由说明为什么中国应当重新调整其经济结构，包括让人民币升值，并开始逐步摆脱对出口的依赖。

会谈中，对两国贸易政策的担忧很可能会主导经济方面的基本议题。在美国，许多公司近几个月来抱怨中国的保护主义政策对他们在这个关键市场中的长期增长造成了威胁。

上个月，中国采取多项措施，明显地软化了限制外国公司进入其每年总额高达数十亿美元的政府采购市场的规定。但也将参加此次对话的美国贸易代表柯克(Ron Kirk)周二暗示中国做得还不够。

他对商会说，我们欣赏中国政府为解决我们的担忧所做的努力，但我们已敦促他们不要在这个方向上越走越远。

盖特纳说美国与商界同样担心中国的做法有可能歧视外国制造的产品并可能对美国出口商和投资者造成不利影响。

他说，美国面临的挑战在于帮助确保中国采取更多措施保护知识产权，并减少对本国公司的补贴及其它优惠政策。我们希望中国给予美国公司在中国市场上公平竞争的机会，它应与中国公司在美国面对的机会相同。

中国对美国的贸易政策也有自己的担心，特别担心美国产业界为阻挡他们眼中的来自中国进口商品的不公平竞争所做出的种种努力。