Thaindian News

Washington, Apr. 4 (ANI): While the Obama Administration has decided to delay the decision of declaring China a currency manipulator, it has vowed to press Chinese leaders to change its currency valuation policy.

“China’s inflexible exchange rate has made it difficult for other emerging market economies to let their currencies appreciate. A move by China to a more market-oriented exchange rate will make an essential contribution to global rebalancing,” the New York Times quoted Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, as saying.

Geithner added that he had decided to delay the semi-annual exchange rate report to Congress, which many Congress members had hoped would officially cite China as a currency manipulator.

However, he clarified that the United States still believed that China has artificially undervalued its currency, the yuan.

“China’s continued maintenance of a currency peg has required increasingly large volumes of currency intervention,” Geithner said.

Geithner pledged to raise the issue at a series of forums: A meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 nations later this month; the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue between the two countries in China in May; and a meeting of G-20 leaders and finance ministers in June.

The Treasury’s action has signalled to China that Washington prefers to resolve the dispute diplomatically rather than going for a showdown.

The recent episodes, including Chinese President Hu Jintao’s announcement that he would attend a nuclear security summit meeting in Washington, have indicated that tensions between the nations have been easing. (ANI)