China says US move in line with facts, consensus
BEIJING: China on Tuesday said the US move to drop the “currency manipulator” tag against it was in line with “facts” and the consensus of the international community.
Soon after the overnight announcement, the Chinese currency yuan soared, days ahead of the two countries signing the phase 1 deal to resolve a tit-for-tat trade war. Vice premier Liu He, who was heading the trade talks, is in Washington to sign the deal.
Beijing didn’t release any more information about the expected trade deal, and the foreign ministry directed queries to the commerce ministry.
On Monday night, Washington dropped the designation of China as a “currency manipulator”, following the release of a report from the US treasury department on Monday. In its semi-annual report on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the US, the treasury department said no major US trading partner at this time met the relevant legislative criteria for currency manipulation. Noting that the department assessed developments over the last several months with China and its currency practices, US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said: “China has made enforceable commitments to refrain from competitive devaluation, while promoting transparency and accountability”.
“China is not an exchange rate manipulator. The latest conclusion of the US is in line with the facts and the consensus of the international community,” foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Tuesday.
“A recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment concluded that the level of the RMB exchange rate is generally in line with economic fundamentals, and objectively denied that China is a ‘currency manipulator’,” Geng added.
Geng added that China will “unswervingly” deepen the reform of the exchange rate marketisation.