Juvenile accusations at a grown-up economy

"We don want them taking advantage of the United States," US President Barrack Obama reportedly said about China at the twilight of the Asia Pacific summit in Honolulu on Sunday. He was referring to the latters currency exchange rate, which the US alleges has been kept artificially low to keep Chinese exports competitive world over. The show put on by Obama appears to be targeting waning support among US voters, instead of Chinese authorities who have so far chosen to ignore this outburst. President Obama has taken repeated jabs at China not just over the exchange rate, but also accusing the country of dragging its feet on environmental concerns and development of private financial institutions. Yet evidence on all these fronts belies US claims. "China has made remarkable progress in its transition toward a more commercially-oriented and financially sound system," states the Financial System Stability Assessment report on the Peoples Republic of China, released by the IMF today (Tuesday). The international lender did not issue a clean chit to the Oriental giant: red flags have been raised over the prevalence of off-balance sheet activities and informal credit markets in the country. IMF has also highlighted the need for policy reform targeted at "greater use of market-oriented monetary policy instruments" instead of stringent fiscal frameworks favoured by Chinese authorities. Still, the financial sector of the worlds largest emerging economy appears better poised to weather economic shocks compared to industry stalwarts from Europe and the United States. Stress tests of the 17 largest commercial banks in China showed these institutions are resilient to shocks such as corrections in real estate prices, deterioration in asset quality or exchange rate changes. The significance of this assessment becomes apparent when viewed against the results from stress tests of the 19 biggest banks of the US. Prominent American banks have been ordered to shore up capital in the wake of stress tests conducted in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Despite these measures, Vice-Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Janet Yellen on Friday announced a fourth round of stress tests for US banks spurred by fears of spillover from the looming EU financial crisis. On the front of environmental conservation, China is speeding past the US and other advanced economies, as its environmental protection industry is expected to grow by 15-20 percent per year between 2011 and 2015. While Chinas ministry for environment protection is making headlines with its plans to invest almost $500 million in this industry over the next five years, a recent publication by the Centre for Research on Globalisation lamented, "The Obama Administration has largely remained passive about the critical imperative to reduce greenhouse gases". The report asserted that while the US insists on assuming the world leadership role "in all key global endeavours", it has "failed dramatically" in curbing its negative contribution to climate change. Similarly, the hullabaloo over Chinas under-valued currency has also been exposed to be a molehill, not a mountain. Last week, the Chinese Yuan lost 0.3 percent against the greenback, as markets reacted to news that the pace of its exports growth was slowest in October from February. Market pundits contend this movement shows the yuan will not necessarily strengthen left to market forces. Summarily, US rants over Chinese policies are becoming increasingly irrelevant and inconsequential. Although China still has a long way to go in terms of improving access to its markets and curbing state intervention in the private sector; the Orient appears to be moving in the right direction; albeit at its own pace. That is more than what can be said about Obamas America.