Obama, China’s Wen Discuss Economic Cooperation
23 September 2010
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, left, meets with President Obama at the United Nations September 23. (Photo: AP Images)
By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer
Washington — After meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, President Obama says extensive U.S.-China cooperation was critical in dealing with the recent global financial crisis.
“Obviously we continue to have more work to do on the economic front, although the world economy is now growing again,” Obama said at a joint press briefing after he and Wen met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
“It’s going to be very important for us to have frank discussions and continue to do more work cooperatively in order to achieve the type of balance and sustained economic growth that is so important,” he said.
Obama and Wen held wide-ranging talks September 23 on issues that included nuclear nonproliferation, especially regarding North Korea; climate change; and global security issues.
The two leaders discussed currency issues related to China’s yuan and its exchange rate against the U.S. dollar as part of a broader discussion of trade relations between the two nations, said Jeffrey Bader, an Obama adviser and senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council. He said Wen reiterated China’s intention to continue with gradual reform of its exchange rate mechanism.
At the press conference, Wen echoed Obama’s remarks, saying through an interpreter that “our common interests far outweigh our differences.”
The United States and China have created a strategic and economic dialogue that meets twice a year to work through a range of issues.
The two countries “have to work cooperatively together in order to achieve regional peace and stability because the world looks to the relationship between China and the United States as a critical ingredient on a whole range of security issues,” Obama told reporters.
Wen said the two nations have worked cooperatively during the financial crisis and in efforts to meet the climate challenge.
China hosts the Six-Party Talks that are designed to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and long-range missile development programs, which are considered a threat to the security of the Northeast Asian region. The talks include China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia and the United States. China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, also participates in negotiations with the other permanent members — Britain, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany in trying to convince the Iranian regime to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao are expected to meet at the Group of 20 (G20) leaders’ meeting in Seoul in November and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which follows the G20 meeting, in Yokohama, Japan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged China and Japan to resolve their current maritime dispute before it has an impact on the Northeast Asia region. Clinton met with Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara at the United Nations September 23.
“The minister did bring up the current tensions with China,” said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley at a press briefing, “and just provided Japan’s perspective on the incident involving the [Chinese] fishing boat and the [Japanese] coast guard vessel, and indicated that Japan was working this in accordance with both its legal process and international law.” The boats collided September 7 in an area of the East China Sea claimed by both nations.
“The secretary’s response was simply to encourage dialogue and hope that the issue can be resolved soon, since relations between Japan and China are vitally important to regional stability,” Crowley said. The United States is not acting as a mediator in the dispute and has not been asked to mediate, he said.