U.S. Economists Against Protectionism

Opinions in Washington on the revaluation of China’s currenc yare becom-ing more contentious. The U.S . Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Banking Committee have approved bills aimed at pres suring Beijing torevalue the yuan despite the Bush administration ’s war ning against suchbills. However , 1,028 noted U.S . economists recently voiced their dissent in apetition. Beijing Review talked to James Anderson , Prof essor of Economicsat Boston College, and Ar nold Kling, an independent economist from Maryl and , both of whom signed the petition.     

CRISIS FOCUS The First Attempt

The U.S. dollar's status as a reserve currency sowed the seeds for the present worldwide financial crisis.Zhou Xiaochuan,Governor of the People's Bank of China,issued a challenge to America's dominance of the global economy last month when he pro-posed that a super-sovereign international currency replace the dollar.Xu Xiaonian,Professor of Economics and Finance at the China Europe International Business School,discussed this proposal in a recent article in Caijing magazine.Edited excerpts follow:     

Challenge the Challenger

正Confrontational strategic competition act is set to pose more stumbling blocks for future China-U.S. tiesOn April 21, after hours of debate and several amendments, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations voted 21-1 in approval of the Bill to Address Issues Involving the People's Republic of China, also known as the Strategic Competition Act of 2021. The over 280-page bill was based on the Strengthening Trade, Regional Alliances, Technology, and Economic and Geopolitical Initiatives Concerning China Act proposed by Jim Risch, then Chairman of the committee, and three other Republican senators in July 2020. As the Republicans lost control of the Senate after the 2020 elections, Democrat Robert Menendez took over the panel's chairmanship and proposed the new bill.     

IPR Awareness Crucial

Back in April, the United States lodged two complaints with the World Trade Organization against China, one of the charges being that the Chinese leadership had failed to con-tain the spread of rampant piracy and infringements on copy-right and intellectual property rights (IPR). This is one of a series of American criticisms against China in this regard over recent years. While this issue has often been cited as a direct cause for bilateral trade frictions and proof of U.S. companies' loss of com-mercial interests in China, it is also seen by some observers as an American way of mounting greater pressures on China to further open its local market for U.S. IPR products.     

Safeguarding and Stabilizing China-U.S. Relationship

正"You believe deeply in your system,and we believe just as deeply in our system.It is not our common beliefs that have brought us together here,but our common interests and our common hopes."Senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi quoted these words from a speech by U.S.President Richard Nixon during his ice-breaking 1972 trip to China in a recent article.Yang,a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee,called for     

A Political Farce

正U.S. suits against China over COVID-19 flout both international and American lawsAs of now, the U.S., unfortunately, is leading the world in novel coronavirus disease(COVID-19) infections and fatalities, with its political, economic and social order having taken a hit. At the same time, some officials, groups and individuals in the country have fi led lawsuits in domestic courts, demanding that China be held liable for the damage caused to the U.S. by COVID-19 and asking for huge compensations.     

Prize Trophy Caught

正On July 29,Xinhua News Agency announced that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China(CPC)had placed Zhou Yongkang under investigation for suspected"serious disciplinary violations."Zhou was China's domestic security chief and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee,the ruling Party's top decisionmaking body,until he retired after the 18th CPC National Congress in November 2012.Zhou is the most senior Chinese official to be investigated in recent decades.The probe will be conducted by     

China Can Maintain Its Economic Growth

正EARLIER this year sections of the Western media tried to spin a story that the world economy was experiencing"severe slowdown in China"and"strong recovery in the U.S."In other words,China’s economy was allegedly in trouble and the U.S.was doing well.Now that the factual data is in for the fi rst half of the year it shows the opposite was true.China’s economic growth was 7.5 percent to the second quarter of 2014;that of the U.S.was 2.4 percent.China’s economy thus grew more than three times as fast as the U.S.’s.Still more signifi cantly for the U.S.,its own statistical agencies and the IMF have offi cially revised their projections for long-term U.S.growth.Both now estimate it at     

Physician,Heal Thyself

The Beijing-based China Society for Human Rights Studies released a report on July 26, analyzing the chronic and rampant racial discrimination in the United States and its failure to rectify it The Deep-Rooted Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Highlights Its Hypocrisy on Human Rights shines a light on discrimination against minorities in employment politics, the economy, culture and social life, and con eludes that it shows the hypocrisy in the U.S.-style advocacy of human rights.     

Calming Stormy Waters

Tom Nagorski, Executive Vice President of the New York-headquartered Asia Society and former Foreign Editor for World News Tonight, a daily evening television news program of the U.S.-based ABC News, moderated a recent discussion at the society caled, The South China Sea: A View From Beijing. To get an insider’s perspective on this divisive issue,Nagorski interviewed Li Zhaoxing,President of the China Public Diplomacy Association and former Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress of China.Li asserted China’s historical right to the area as a"continuous,peaceful jurisdiction over these islands,"adding that the last thing China wants to see is turmoil or even war in "our neighborhood." Li is also confdent that a peaceful resolution to the disputes can be achieved.An edited version of the interview folows:     

THE PARTY AND THE WORLD

正In 1936, U.S. journalist Edgar Snow made his first visit to Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, home to the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China(CPC) during the late 1930 s and early 1940 s. At that time, China faced a severe crisis from Japanese aggression while the corrupt Kuomintang regime refused to form a united front of resistance with the CPC. The CPC-led Red Army had just settled down in north Shaanxi after an epic military trek called the Long March to break the siege of the Kuomintang forces and fight the Japanese aggressors.     

Focus

According to a joint investigation by a group of top world companies, China has for the first time surpassed the U.S. to become the most favored destination for direct foreign investment. The Financial Times reports that the September 11th incident has provoked worries about security in the U.S among foreign investors. According to UN statistics, nearly US $50 billion of direct foreign investment was channeled into China in 2001, and still more is on its way. Foreign investment in the United States, on the other hand, dropped from its 2000 level of US $301 billion to US $125 biinon.     

Fewer Rows, More Reason

The year 2010 concludes with several fresh entries in China＇s book of honor： the Shanghai World Expo set a record of 70 million visitors; China overtook Japan as runner up for the world＇s largest GDP, second only to the U.S.; and the World Bank escalated China＇s voting clout to 4.42 percent, the third largest in the organization. Amid the cheers and plaudits for these achievements are complaints and grumblings that can＇t be overlooked.     

China,Free Rider or Contributor？

正IN an interview early last August with the New York Times,U.S.President Obama remarked that China had been a global free rider for the past 30 years,and that the U.S.does not expect China to do anything substantial in dealing with Iraq.Obama is in fact not the first to accuse China of being a free rider in the international community.In September 2005,U.S.former Deputy Sec-     

Stranded Overseas

Following the aborted Oregon wind farm project,Sany Heavy Industry is now entangled in patent disputes Just as Sany Heavy Industry,the largest machinery manufacturer in China, is strained by its lawsuit against U.S. President Barack Obama and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS),things seem to be getting worse. During the Fifth Round of the ChinaU. S.Strategic and Economic Dialogue,held from July 10-11 in Washington,the United States International Trade Commission(ITC) announced a Section 337 investigation into Sany and its American branch for patent infringement. The investigation was based on a complaint filed by Manitowoc Cranes that certain crawler cranes and components manufactured by Sany and its U.S.branch had infringed on two U.S.patents. Aside from that,Sany was also accused     

The Blame Game

正Trump administration politicizes pandemic for electoral gain While in the midst of a pandemic and with a crying need for the U.S. and China to unite and work together,it is unfortunate that China-U.S. relations have deteriorated to a level not seen since the Cold War before Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972. This deterioration was completely avoidable. One would have hoped that the rhetoric would dissipate as cooler and more rational voices prevailed to restore a greater sense of cooperation in the world’s most important bilateral relationship.     

CRISIS FOCUS:Into the Abyss

The United States,facing its deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression,has spared no efforts to save its economy from falling off a cliff.But its federal bailout program has appeared flawed given the country's mounting fiscal deficits.Will the government's rescue efforts be a panacea for the ailing markets?Will the U.S. economy drift into a prolonged recession?Dong Yuping,a researcher at the Institute of Finance and Banking under Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,discussed these issues in a recent article in China Finance magazine.Excerpts follow:     

A Testing Time for U.S.-China Relations

<正>While the unipolar world is still orbiting in the sphere of influence of Anglo-American elite and some of their allies,the rest of the world is marching in a different direction.THE year 2022 proved to be a turbulent one for U.S.-China relations.The assumption of power by the Biden administration in January 2021 was viewed with some optimism after the rollercoaster ride of the Trump administration-waxing hot and then cold-toward the People’s Republic of China.Biden rejected Trump’s chau...     

Mountains of Gold and Silver A mine-rich Zhejiang county reaps the benefits of green development

President Xi Jinping's visit to Yucun in Zhejiang Province,east China,on March 30 held special significance for him,for the former mining village and for environmental protection efforts in China.It was there 15 years ago that as secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China(CPC),Xi put forward the concept that"clear waters and green mountains are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver."The concept has become a motto for China's green development and ecological civilization today.     

Equal Treatment for All

There are some accusations stigmatizing China made by the international media recently.Coming from a sense of superiority,adopted by some American politicians and media agencies since the outbreak of the pandemic to demonize and stigmatize China,they are now describing Westerners as victims of discrimination in China.Those reports even said that Africa ns,who historically have a deep f「ien dship with the Chinese,have been subjected to acts of'Yacism,*in China.The fact is that some of China's supermarkets,gyms,bars,hotels and other public places do not allow people to enter in groups,neither Chinese nor foreigners,as a measure of pandemic prevention and control.Also,a quarantine period is in place for people entering the country,including Chinese and foreigners.