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US President Obama says Washington not trying to contain China
But the US president held to a reassuring, sometimes folksy tone at a forum of students in Shanghai, with the mostly gentle questions providing little scope for political hardball.
“We do not seek to contain China’s rise,” he said before taking questions from the audience of several hundred students and also from the Internet.
“On the contrary, we welcome China as a strong and prosperous and successful member of the community of nations.”
Obama also used the forum to champion Internet freedom and human rights on the first full day of his trip. But he did not mention Tibet or other sensitive issues that could have drawn ire ahead of his talks with Chinese leaders in Beijing, where he arrived later on Monday.
“These freedoms of expression and worship, of access to information and political participation, we believe are universal rights, they should be available to all people including ethnic and religious minorities,” Obama told the audience in Shanghai.
“I’m a big supporter of not restricting Internet use,” he said. “The more open we are, the more we can communicate and it also draws the world together.”
While billed as an opportunity for Obama to reach out to the Chinese public, the meeting bore the markings of a scripted but friendly encounter. Students dressed in suits smiled and applauded politely, and laughed when Obama tried Chinese.
US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke was not so reticent about Washington’s frustrations with Beijing’s currency settings.
“I think it’s quite clear all around the world as to the views of what China should do with its currency,” Locke told Reuters in an interview. “The United States has been pleased with some of the progress made over time, but more needs to be done.”
Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian was equally blunt in rejecting calls to raise the value of the yuan, which would make the country’s exports relatively more expensive.
“Either from the perspective of promoting stable global economic development, or from the perspective of promoting a recovery in Chinese exports, we must provide a stable and predictable environment for our enterprises, including macro-economic policy and currency policy,” said Yao.
China has had a huge trade surplus with the United States, and is also the largest foreign holder of US government bonds.
The US trade deficit with China widened 9.2 percent in September to $22.1 billion, the highest since November 2008, according to US data released last week.
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