Vice Minister Zhong Shan Meets with Congressman Gregory Meeks

On March 26, Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan met with Gregory Meeks, the U.S. Congressman in New York. The two parties reached consensus that China and the U.S. should, from a strategic and long-term perspective, approach present trade and economic issues through dialogue and consultations so as to jointly promote the healthy and steady Sino-US trade and economic relations.
Zhong stated that since the establishment of diplomatic relations, bilateral economic and trade ties had developed rapidly and laid a solid foundation for the benefits of the people and the development of Sino-US relations. China really cherished the current friendly Sino-US economic and trade ties. And the two countries should appropriately handle the economic and trade problems in a consultative and cooperative manner. Any idea of the Cold War or any kind of confrontation gets just the opposite. As Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, recently reiterated, it is always better to have a dialogue than a confrontation, and a partnership than a rivalry.
And Meeks agreed on it. He introduced his experience on handling his first hot issue when he served as the congressman: permanent normalization of Sino-US trade. He said that Sino-US economic and trade relations were significant not only for the two countries but also for the whole world. With the closer economic and trade relations of the two countries, the interdependence is deepening which prefers friendship than rivalship. And dialogue is beneficial to enhancing mutual understanding and solving problems.
At request, Zhong gave an introduction of the RMB exchange rate and the U.S. export control policy against China concerned by some congressmen. He said that RMB exchange rate was not the root reason for the imbalance of Sino-US trade. It is unfounded that enforcing RMB appreciation because of the trade imbalance or the U.S. will impose punitive tariff on the products imported from China. Fortunately, currently, the communication between the two countries on RMB exchange rate is clear. At present, the U.S. is implementing the National Export Initiative. And China is willing to expand its imports from the U.S. and hopes that the U.S. could relax the export control measures against China. Meanwhile, the U.S. should not restrict the imports from China. Only then, the balanced development of trade could be achieved. Meeks also agreed that China and the U.S. should promote the market wider to each other, the facilitation of the trade and investment, sustainable and open dialogue between the two countries, other than imposing punitive tariff at random.
As the Deputy Director of the Organizing Committee of Shanghai Expo, Zhong Shan invited Meeks to visit China and attend the Expo. He hoped that the U.S. congressmen could visit China and understand real China by hands-on practice so as to eliminate the conflicts.
Meeks currently serves as the Chairman of International Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee, and the member of Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee and the Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services.