CHINA US Focus - Perspectives shaping the world's most important bilateral relationship

A senior Chinese official, speaking ahead of a key meeting with American counterparts next week, went out of his way to praise U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for "pragmatic" remarks on China-U.S. ties and shrugged off criticism of Beijing's policies on its currency and state companies.

 

Vice Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao told reporters Saturday that Beijing had noted Geithner's remarks, made earlier this week in San Francisco, and that it agreed with his key points that the two economies are tightly linked and that American economic success depends on the U.S., not China.

 

"The core [of his remarks] is that our economies are highly complementary," Zhu said. "We concur in this assessment."