Sino-US spat put aside, for now
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Sino-US relations are displaying their most positive level this year after a US Treasury Department report on China's exchange rate was delayed Saturday, a move that temporarily avoids a possible public showdown over the currency issue amid an expected visit to the US by Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Chinese analysts believe, however, that pressure on the appreciation of the yuan is still rising, rather than weakening, despite the stalling tactic.
The Chinese administration was silent Monday, a public holiday in China. A press officer from China's Ministry of Commerce declined to comment on the delay, and the foreign ministry suggested that the concerned departments are the central bank and the ministry of finance, whose officials could not be reached.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement that he will delay publication of the report, due out April 15, because several high-level international meetings in the coming three months will be a better way to advance the US position, including a meeting of the G-20 finance ministers, a US-China "strategic dialogue" in Beijing in May and a gathering of G-20 presidents in June in Toronto.
Geithner didn't provide specifics on when or under what kind of situation the Treasury might issue its report, which, if citing China as a currency manipulator, could pave the way for trade sanctions.
Geithner's announcement came a day after Beijing's announcement that President Hu will attend a nuclear security summit meeting in Washington April 12-13, in the same week that the report normally is due. US President Barack Obama told the Chinese leader during an hour-long phone call that he welcomed the decision.
Shi Yinhong, director of the Center of American Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times that the US decision is a sign that bilateral relations have entered a temporary soothing period since the Copenhagen conference in December.
"Sino-US relations in recent months could be seen as the tensest since 2005, during which multiple problems occurred in various aspects," Shi said.
The decision to delay the report may improve US relations with China but could upset some American lawmakers, the BBC reported.
In separate statements, the head of the Senate Finance Committee and its senior Republican both criticized the decision. The panel's chairman, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., told the AP that, for years, the Treasury Department "has given China's currency practices a free pass, but it's time to reevaluate."
Democratic Senator Arlen Specter on Sunday suggested that the Obama administration was delaying the report in exchange for help on Iran sanctions, though the criticism was flatly denied by Larry Summers, Obama's top economic adviser, who said on CNN's "State of the Union" program that the White House simply wants more time for dialogue with China.
China agreed last week to take part in UN talks on imposing fresh sanctions against Iran over its suspected nuclear program. Reuters noted in a Sunday report that the Obama administration is seeking broad global support for measures to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, making it an inconvenient time to risk inflaming the political dispute over China's currency policy.
