China will look for opportunities to increase domestic demand and will reform its foreign exchange system, said Chinese president Hu Jintao in his discourse at Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
The Chinese president underscored China’s plans to increase domestic consumer demand, especially since it is one of the countries that base most of their growth in exports.
During his intervention, US president Barack Obama warned that countries should not make exports the main fuel for economic growth, hinting at the current practices of China.
Furthermore, the US president raised the issue of China keeping the yuan at low power on purpose, in order to boost its exports.
In exchange, China criticized the easy-money measure announced by US’s Federal Reserve, saying that the measure basically plans to weaken the dollar for the same purpose of boosting exports, with the risk of destabilizing world economy.
According to US representatives, China is to show progress in foreign currency reform before Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington next year.
The Chinese president said that the reform will be a gradual and controlled one, to prevent causing imbalances.
The Chinese president also emphasized the leading role of emerging economies in global economic recovery by maintaining fast growth. While China has posted fast growth, the US and Europe are struggling with unemployment and financial concerns.
Hu Jintao had a sideline meeting with Taiwanese politician Lien Chan to discuss economic ties, which have been at best cold since 1949. The two politicians agreed to leave aside political matters in favor of the economic ones, as China prefers to focus on economic flows for the time being.
