NEW YORK: The United States must stand up to China to prevent Beijing from taking unfair advantage in trade through its currency policy, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday.
"They continue to try to game the system to their advantage and our disadvantage," Clinton said after a speech to The Economic Club of New York.
"I think it's appropriate and fitting and timely for us to be standing up and saying, 'This is not acceptable.'"
The top US diplomat said other countries suffering from China's yuan policies could join forces.
"It is not only distorting the market, it's not only making our exports more expensive, it is now beginning to impact on other countries as well. It's not the United States alone saying 'China needs to rebalance this artificial policy of depreciation,'" Clinton said.
"We do have to expect everybody play by the same rules. In the absence of that we have to put together an international coalition."
Many in Washington believe that China keeps the yuan unfairly low against the dollar, giving its goods an edge of as much as 30 percent over similar US products, widening the trade deficit and costing American jobs.
Debate is intensifying in Washington over whether to pass legislation punishing China. Opponents fear that the measure could lead to a trade war with the rapidly rising Asian economic superpower.
Earlier on Friday China's Premier Wen Jiabao warned that rising protectionism was damaging the global economy, and while he made no specific mention of the United States, he said countries should be "rational" in dealing with trade disputes as the world grappled with a mounting debt crisis.
-AFP
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