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Updated Thursday, November 19, 2009 9:22 am TWN, By Caren Bohan and Patricia Zengerle, Reuters



	U.S. President Barack Obama tours the Great Wall of China in Badaling, yesterday. President Barack Obama wrapped up his first trip to China by meeting Premier Wen Jiabao, who said the two nations were better off as partners not rivals, and visiting the Great Wall. (Reuters) Enlarge Photo

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China's Wen seeks to reassure Obama on trade

Despite the bright rhetoric, officials and experts from both sides have stressed Obama's visit will not bring about immediate policy shifts, or end friction over the yuan, U.S. anti-dumping rules, and Washington's criticism of China's controls on citizens' rights and policies in Tibet.

Such summits are about setting priorities for future dealings, not making immediate policy changes, said Jin Canrong, an expert on China-U.S. ties at Renmin University in Beijing.

The issue of currencies has drawn testy comments from U.S. and Chinese officials. China's Commerce Ministry on Monday rebuffed calls for the yuan to appreciate, signalling resistance to change foreign exchange policy.

Outside pressure has been building on Beijing to let the yuan rise after more than a year of it being nearly frozen in place against the weakening dollar, with the latest appeal voiced by the head of the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday.

But Chinese officials have swatted down speculation of any big moves soon, and the government appears likely to keep the currency on a tight rein at least until the middle of 2010 to cement the country's economic recovery.

“Any policy changes by China, including on the exchange rate, will be based on its assessment of its own interests, not on external pressure,” said Jin, the professor.

U.S. Dollar Assets

Wen has voiced his own worries about the U.S. economy.

In March, he took Washington to task over its fiscal policies, saying he was worried about the health of China's vast U.S. assets, and repeated those worries at a summit in Africa this month.

China has amassed US$2.27 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest stockpile, and analysts think about two-thirds of this is invested in dollar-denominated assets.

The Xinhua commentary said the United States, and not only China, needed to absorb some lessons and “figure out effective new ways to tackle its own chronic problems”.

It also warned that U.S. mid-term congressional elections next year might encourage “more finger-pointing and protectionism” aimed at China.

Obama and Hu have said that strains over trade and U.S. criticism of China's human rights restrictions should not overshadow cooperation.

Bonnie Glaser, an expert on China at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., said the statement issued by Obama and Hu underscored “the two countries have a lot of common interests, but it remains to be seen whether they can cooperate to advance them”.

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