China sought more reassurance on U.S. measures to
tackle its debt crisis on Wednesday as Vice President Joe Biden
arrived in Beijing and urged the two nations to cooperate on shared
global challenges.
A commentary by the official Xinhua news agency said the recent U.S.
package of measures to reduce its fiscal deficit had "failed to
resolve the runaway debt problem of the world's largest economy,
leaving a ticking time bomb."
The commentary called Biden's trip "a timely visit to ease
concerns and boost ties," and said he was expected to "assure Chinese
leaders of Washington's capacity, will, and commitment to tackle its
fiscal and economic challenges."
"Such a message will be reassuring indeed, both to China, the
largest foreign holder of U.S. bonds, and to the broader international
community," it said.
"Although there's lots of reassuring going on, real relief appears
nowhere in sight," the commentary said.
Biden said before his arrival that cooperation between the two
nations would benefit the whole world.
The United States aimed to put relations with China "on a steady
and sustainable track for the coming decades," Biden told the
People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist
Party, in Washington.
"For me and President (Barack) Obama, the bottom line is that the
United States and China will face many similar challenges and share
many responsibilities as two big nations with global roles in the
21st century," he said.
Biden said Chinese companies were welcome to invest in the United
States and benefit from its "open, transparent and
non-discriminatory" policies, an apparent attempt to reassure China
in the face of political opposition to some Chinese investments.
He said the U.S. government planned to revise rules that restrict
exports of some high-technology products to China, a move that
Chinese officials have requested many times in recent years.
Biden said only about 1 percent of U.S. exports to China last year
had required export permits.
"We believe we can utilize many other effective ways to expand
trade and achieve a more balanced economic relationship," he told the
newspaper.
To reduce its trade deficit with China, which was $273 billion in 2010, the United States has urged China to let its
currency appreciate and remove barriers to imports.
U.S. officials said Biden planned to outline his country's deficit
reduction plan to China, the United States' biggest creditor.
He was also expected to discuss U.S. arms sales to Taiwan during
talks with Chinese leaders on Thursday and Friday.
Biden was scheduled to meet Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who
is expected to succeed President Hu Jintao as Communist Party leader
late next year and state head in early 2013. He will also meet Hu and
Premier Wen Jiabao.
His itinerary includes a two-day trip to the south-western city of
Chengdu to speak at a university on U.S.-China relations and visit an
area hit by the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Following his visit to China, Biden was scheduled to travel to
Mongolia and Japan.
His visit to Mongolia on Monday was to be the first to the country
by a U.S. vice president since 1944.
In Japan, Biden was to stress U.S. support of Japanese efforts to
rebuild following the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear
disaster in March, U.S. officials said.
