Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.

China, US Pledge to Remedy Trade Imbalance
------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?r=279&c=747394&l=1009&ctl=155566B:A6F02AD83191E160005F182C72AE46C59574F7DCC14957C0 But US Treasury
Secretary Henry Paulson gave no timetable or details following two
days of high-level economic talks in Beijing

The United States and China have agreed to try to redress imbalances
in their economic relationship, which saw China achieve a $200 billion
trade surplus last year. Top-level officials met for the past two days
in Beijing, and the two countries reaffirmed their common interest in
maintaining a stable economic relationship. But, as Roger Wilkison
reports for VOA, they did not commit to a timetable, or specific
pledges as to how they would deal with the strains that bedevil it.







Henry Paulson left, is greeted by Chinese President Hu Jintao after
closing of Strategic Economic Dialogue, 15 Dec. 2006U.S. Treasury
Secretary Henry Paulson is under pressure in the United States to go
home with tangible results from his Beijing talks.

Some members of Congress and American business executives claim that
China's currency, the yuan, is deliberately undervalued, allowing
Chinese exporters to undercut U.S. companies in the U.S. market.

China has allowed the yuan to revalue since last year, but only within
tightly controlled bands. China says it needs to continue fueling
growth through exports, to keep tens-of-millions of workers employed.

Paulson and his Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Wu Yi, acknowledged
Friday that the two sides do not always see eye-to-eye on that issue
and others, but will strive over the long term to improve the
relationship.

Paulson told reporters, he and Wu had a good, productive discussion,
but that only time would tell what concrete results will emerge from
the talks.

"On the major issues, which we were talking about, many of them have
to do with economic reform in China and the speed of that process," he
said. "Where there is a difference, okay, is on the speed of that
reform. We have a common interest in the right outcome, and we're
differing about the best way to get to that outcome."

Paulson was accompanied on his trip to Beijing by several top Cabinet
officials and by Ben Bernanke, the head of America's central bank, the
Federal Reserve.

Bernanke, in a speech earlier Friday, also argued that China should
allow market forces to determine the value of the yuan.

The discussions were part of a so-called "strategic economic dialogue"
aimed at resolving long-term problems between the world's biggest
economy and the world's fastest-growing economy.

The officials will meet again next May in Washington.