Paulson sets out new US strategy towards China
Hank Paulson, the US Treasury secretary, yesterday laid out the framework for a comprehensive new strategy towards China, emphasising the need to take a "generational" view of the US-China relationship.
In an interview, Mr Paulson told the Financial Times he wanted to "strike a balance" between tackling pressing short-term issues while maintaining a strategic perspective on China's emergence as a leading player in the global economy. "I think we have a common interest," he said, arguing that many of the steps the US wanted China to take were in its own best interest.
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The interview followed a landmark speech by the former Goldman Sachs chairman ahead of his first trip to China as Treasury secretary, in which he said he would tell his counterparts in Beijing: "We want you to succeed."
Mr Paulson declared: "The United States has a huge stake in a prosperous, stable China - a China able and willing to play its part as a global economic leader." He said the US and China shared huge areas of mutual economic interest, highlighting energy and the environment as two specific areas where the two nations should work together.
He added that the US looked to China to be its "co-operative partner" in reviving the Doha trade talks. Officials said Mr Paulson would push hard on Doha in meetings with world finance ministers in Singapore later this week.
"The biggest risk we face is not that China will overtake the US but that China will not move ahead with the reforms necessary to sustain its growth," Mr Paulson declared. The Treasury secretary told the FT: "I wanted to put the relationship and these economic issues in a longer-term focus. But I also needed to emphasise how important certain steps were going to be in the short term."
For example, he said,on the currency front "the intermediate-term viewpoint is that it is very, very important to open up their capital markets, to have healthy competition within the domestic financial system, so they can have a currency that is freely tradeable".
But he added: "They also need to show more flexibility in the short term."
His speech did not dwell on the currency as a standalone issue, framing it instead as part of a necessary shift towards more market-based management of China's economy. However, Mr Paulson warned the Beijing authorities that they underestimated "at China's own peril" the extent to which the currency was "viewed by their critics as a symbol of unfair competition".
He called on China to press ahead with liberalisation across a broad front, including financial sector reform, fiscal and regulatory policies to reduce excess savings, market-based macroeconomic management and intellectual property rights. "We are taking a comprehensive approach," he said. "We are collectively pulling it together." Mr Paulson said China had become a lightning rod for fears about globalisation, but insisted: "This is manageable."
In his speech, Mr Paulson praised China's "remarkable" record of economic reform, and said China already "deserves to be recognised as a leader". This, he said, was why the US backed plans to give China and other emerging markets a much bigger say in the International Monetary Fund.
However, Mr Paulson said: "With leadership comes responsibility." He urged China to abide by the "spirit and letter" of the rules of the IMF and promote free trade. And he suggested these responsibilities "go beyond the economic arena" to include human rights and non-proliferation.
The speech positions Mr Paulson in the role of honest broker between China and its critics in Congress. He characterised the fundamental division as not one between the US and China, but between liberalisers in both the US and China, and their protectionist opponents.
Mr Paulson made an impassioned defence of open markets, declaring: "Globalisation and interdependence are here to stay. No nation can turn back the clock." But he warned: "I believe that if China does not move quickly to continue reforming its economy it will face a backlash from other international economic stakeholders."
鲍尔森：希望中国成功
美国财政部长汉克?鲍尔森(Hank Paulson)呼吁对美中政策重新进行广泛评估，并敦促两国超越短期争端，从“代际”角度考虑两国关系。
在以美国财长身份首次访华前发表的一次重要讲话中，这位中国问题专家及高盛(Goldman Sachs)前董事长表示，他将对中国财政官员说：“我们希望你们成功。”
鲍尔森表示：“一个繁荣稳定的中国――一个能够而且愿意在全球经济中发挥带头作用的中国，与美国的利益息息相关。”
他宣称，美中两国在广泛的领域有着共同的经济利益，并强调指出，两国应在能源和环境问题上携手合作。
他表示：“我们面临的最大风险不是中国超过美国，而是中国停止推进维持经济增长所必需的改革。”
鲍尔森的讲话含蓄地表示，不应过分孤立地看待人民币汇率问题，而应将其放到中国向更市场化经济管理体制必要转变的大环境之中。
不过，鲍尔森警告北京：“美国的反贸易和反华情绪也很严重，而且在不断升级。”
鲍尔森告诉中国当局，他们低估了批评人士将人民币问题视为“不公平竞争信号”的程度，这会“给中国自身带来危险”。他呼吁中国在广泛领域内推进自由化进程，其中包括：金融领域改革，及财政和监管政策，以减少过度储蓄；汇率自由化；并加强对知识产权的保护。
鲍尔森赞扬了中国的经济改革成就，并表示，中国被视为领导者是当之无愧的。正因为这个原因，美国才决定支持国际货币基金组织(IMF)的改革计划，赋予中国和其它新兴市场更大的发言权。
但鲍尔森称：“作为领导者，就要承担相应的责任”。他敦促中国遵守IMF规定的“精神和内容”，并表示，美国希望中国成为重启多哈回合贸易谈判的“合作伙伴”。他还表示，领导者的责任不仅仅是在经济范畴，还包括人权和核不扩散问题。
鲍尔森这番讲话，似乎既是对北京、也是对美国国会的反华意见而发，从而把他定位为中间人的角色。
鲍尔森认为，这种基本分歧并非美中两国之间的分歧，而是两国贸易自由化支持者与贸易保护者之间的分歧。他警告：“如果中国不迅速采取行动，继续进行经济改革，就会面临来自其它国际经济利益相关者的反弹。这种反弹对我们任何人都没有好处。”
