人民币非解决美国贸易逆差方法

At the 2011 APEC summit, U.S. President Barack Obama has once again mentioned the renminbi exchange rate in his remarks, while Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said China's currency exchange rate is at a basically reasonable level and adjusting it could not solve the U.S. trade deficit with China.

Chen says China's import rate has been expanding much faster than its export rate in recent years, with its foreign trade surplus falling year by year and month by month to merely 1.4 percent of the country's GDP.

Fan Gang, Director of the National Economic Research Institute at the China Reform Foundation, says a renminbi exchange rate adjustment is not the key solution to the U.S. trade deficit.

"China doesn't want to be another Japan, having significant appreciation in a short time as to avoid an exterior impact on the economy. That doesn't accord with our interest. On the other hand, the slowdown of China's economy does no good for the U.S., even the whole world. Therefore, we prefer a stable market and a relatively steady process of currency appreciation. The value of the renminbi will keep rising gradually, according to market demand. And as you can tell, the renminbi has appreciated by 30 percent. However, the U.S. trade deficit is getting worse. It's a good proof that the renminbi is not the key to the U.S. trade deficit."

Some participants at the summit say the U.S. trade deficit with China is also the main reason for job losses in the United States.

But economist Fan Gang has a different view.

"According to the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank's latest data, 'Made in China' products only account for 1.6 percent of the country's total consumption, while 88 percent are dedicated to domestic products and services. Therefore, America's domestic market should be the core of its job creation."

"Toward a Seamless Regional Economy" is the theme of the Hawaii APEC summit. With this in mind, Fan Gang says he believes emerging economies will be crucial in preventing the global economy from experiencing a double-dip recession.

"The world is quite different from 70 years ago during the Great Depression when only the developed countries counted. But last year, emerging markets accounted for 50 percent of global GDP, and this year, I believe, the figure will surpass 50 percent. As long as the emerging economies grow healthily, the world economy will be stable. And second, they provide a chance for developed countries to recover from stagnation."

Fan says the APEC meeting must address other issues such as the world economic situation, regional trade and financial regulations. He also says participants should discuss how to achieve positive effects from economic growth in emerging economies.

For CRI, I'm He Fei.