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Snow says China moving to flexible yuan
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-17 19:49
MAKE NO MISTAKE
Snow called these legislative proposals "ill-conceived" and said he was
hopeful of being able to point to progress China was making toward more-open
markets.
"But we need to see movement," he added. "Let's make no mistake about it.
Congress will demand to see movement."
During his Chinese visit, Snow has sought to broaden the discussion of
U.S.-Chinese economic relations beyond currency to include easier access for
U.S. firms to Chinese banking, investment and other financial services
industries.
Still, nearly every question at the news conference dealt with U.S. efforts
to get China to adopt a more flexible currency.
Snow said Washington had no timetable for China to act but said the long-term
goal was a freely floating Chinese currency.
"The real objective is to see the Chinese currency eventually be fully
flexible, eventually to move like the dollar and the euro and other fully
floating currencies," he said.
The treasurer of the Asian Development Bank, Mikio Kashiwagi, said its
pioneering launch this month of yuan-denominated "panda bonds" in the domestic
market was a step in the reform process.
"The only room for discussion is the pace, how fast it should go. There, you
know some people are more patient than others," Kashiwagi told reporters. "I
think things are very much on track ... they have their own very responsible
chart."
Snow declined to say whether the encouraging signs he had heard from Chinese
officials made it less likely that China would be named a currency manipulator
in next month's report.
"I don't want to foreshadow what we will conclude," Snow said. "You know what
we said last time and we're going to continue to look for signs of real
progress."
In May, the Treasury warned that China likely would be named a manipulator if
it did not amend its currency regime. Beijing's dropping of its currency peg and
modestly revaluation came two months later.
"We will continue to look hard at the situation and try and evaluate whether
or not sufficient progress is being made," Snow said.
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