China, bristling at calls to revalue the yuan, ruled out any change to its currency peg during a visit by US Treasury Secretary John Snow yesterday but offered a token easing of its capital controls.
Snow, who landed in Beijing yesterday afternoon, is under pressure at home to urge China to revalue the yuan, which is pegged to the dollar, to save jobs at hard-pressed US factories.
The International Monetary Fund weighed in yesterday, saying it was in China's best interests to move towards a more flexible exchange rate system.
"Such a move would improve the central bank's ability to control money and credit growth, and also help cushion China's economy from domestic and external shocks," IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler said in a statement.
But China stood its ground.
"There won't be any change in the exchange rate just because someone is visiting China," a spokesman for the central People's Bank of China said.
Shortly after Snow arrived, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan (
"The stable exchange rate of the renminbi is conducive to the economic stability and development of China, Asia and the world," he said.
American manufacturers claim a cheap yuan, held at around 8.3 to the US dollar, gives Chinese rivals an unfair edge.
Snow has said little publicly while in Asia about China's currency but Japanese Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said they had agreed in talks in Tokyo the market should set the value of the yuan.
Snow was due to meet central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan (周小川) and Finance Minister Jin Renqing (金人慶) yesterday.
"I think John Snow is wasting his time because China is not going to revalue its currency because the US wants them to," the Economist Intelligence Unit's chief economist, Robin Bew, said in Hong Kong.
China is worried about the damage a revaluation may cause to export growth that has helped fuel one of the world's fastest-growing economies.
The state-run China Daily newspaper said it did not want the yuan to be caught up in the 2004 US presidential race.
"China's currency, unfortunately, is in a position of finding itself involved in the finger-wagging sessions that accompany this essentially American saga," it said in a commentary under the title "Don't meddle with the yuan."
But Beijing, continuing with a series of adjustments to capital controls aimed at easing the yuan's appreciation, said it would raise the limit on the amount of foreign exchange Chinese travellers could buy from banks.
Tropical Storm Gaemi strengthened into a typhoon at 2pm yesterday, and could make landfall in Yilan County tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency was scheduled to issue a sea warning at 11:30pm yesterday, and could issue a land warning later today. Gaemi was moving north-northwest at 4kph, carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 118.8kph and gusts of 154.8kph. The circumference is forecast to reach eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning, with the center making landfall in Yilan County later that night before departing from the north coast, CWA weather forecaster Kuan Shin-ping (官欣平) said yesterday. Uncertainty remains and
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
DISRUPTIONS: The high-speed rail is to operate as normal, while several airlines either canceled flights or announced early departures or late arrivals Schools and offices in 15 cities and counties are to be closed today due to Typhoon Gaemi, local governments announced last night. The 15 are: Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Tainan, Keelung, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, as well as Yilan, Hualien, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang counties. People should brace for torrential rainfall brought by the storm, with its center forecast to make landfall on the east coast between tonight and tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The agency issued a sea warning for the typhoon at 11:30pm on Monday, followed by a land warning at 11:30am yesterday. As of
CASUALTY: A 70-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree in Kaohsiung as the premier warned all government agencies to remain on high alert for the next 24 hours Schools and offices nationwide are to be closed for a second day today as Typhoon Gaemi crosses over the nation, bringing torrential rain and whipping winds. Gaemi was forecast to make landfall late last night. From Tuesday night, its outer band brought substantial rainfall and strong winds to the nation. As of 6:15pm last night, the typhoon’s center was 20km southeast of Hualien County, Central Weather Administration (CWA) data showed. It was moving at 19kph and had a radius of 250km. As of 3pm yesterday, one woman had died, while 58 people were injured, the Central Emergency Operation Center said. The 70-year-old