By Li Hongmei, People's Daily Online
In no surprise, but it is still a little beyond expectations, that the U.S. and its major allies softened their criticism of China on its ongoing currency policy in face of the worsening global crunch. The shift, as seen at the just concluded meetings of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Rome, reflects the West's eagerness for China's assistance and engagement in combating the worldwide economic gloom and tackling the global financial crisis.
What remains in stark contrast is the remarks made by the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, who had accused China just weeks before of manipulating its currency to gain an edge in foreign trade. But at the weekend summit of G-7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, the same Geithner highly hailed China 'for playing a very important stabilizing role in the international financial system today,' making his debut on the world stage a new and positive look to many Chinese.
As expected, if the U.S. takes the lead, the other leading industrialized nations will probably follow suit, making a U-turn in their attitudes toward China at the Rome summit, by praising in concert both China's prompt economic stimulus measures and the consistent efforts China has so far made in transforming its foreign currency exchange rate mechanism into a more flexible one.
Admittedly, it is far too optimistic to expect all the hardcore prejudices against China and the Chinese people, which have been well-programmed in the minds of some Westerners by history, would be rooted out by a single Rome summit; or the Western arrogance presiding over the world and the hostility toward China, perhaps born of indigestion of the Chinese culture, would be thawed out by the mere meetings and talks. Nothing might better explain the abrupt shift of the Western attitudes to China than the situation in itself. The scenario of the world would vary in accordance with the distribution of influence and wealth. The 30 straight years' economic growth has made China an indispensible player today on the world's chess board. And China's role looms large as the world is battling the ever deepening recession.
The ongoing financial crisis put a chill on the world economy, with no exception of China's economic entities. Be that as it may, China is continuously doing its utmost to fulfill its commitment to defending free trade, and still offering hands to those bogged down into the worsening downturn. China has promised to avoid 'Buy China' protectionist measures in its own multibillion-dollar stimulus effort, and meanwhile appealed to other governments to support free trade, as Deputy Commerce Minister Jiang Zengwei was quoted as saying recently, 'China would treat domestic and foreign goods equally so long as we need them.'
Premier Wen Jiabao assured his European counterparts while touring Europe last month that a sizeable Chinese purchasing delegation to Europe would take place at the end of February. Compared with the constructive role China plays in tackling the global financial crisis, some Western nations, however, are trying to shelter themselves under the umbrella of trade protectionism.
'Buy American' provision included in the U.S$787 billion stimulus bill was signed into law Tuesday by President Barack Obama. The similarly worrisome issue is that some other Western countries also decided to give preference to locally made products in their stimulus plans, even though they all vowed at the Rome summit that they would not violate the commitment to free trade.
Their practice runs counter to time and situation, and no wonder some analysts concluded that the international economic order predominated by the G-7 is now over, as the group seems to be out-of-date and its signs to dissolve have already emerged at this year's meetings. Perhaps, G-7 is too weak to reverse the worst ever economic downtrend since the Great Depression.
Therefore more hopes and higher expectations would be naturally placed on the G-20 summit to be convened in London in early April, and on the golden handshakes between President Hu Jintao and President Obama. May their historic meeting breathe in some fresh air and bring some hope to revive the ailing world economy!
The article represents the author's view only. It does not represent opinions of People's Daily or People's Daily Online.
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