Kan says it is more appropriate to discuss yuan at G-20+

TOKYO, Feb. 5 Kyodo -
Finance Minister Naoto Kan said Friday it would be more appropriate to discuss
issues concerning the Chinese yuan under the framework of the Group of 20
industrialized and emerging countries including China, instead of at this
weekend's Group of Seven nations' gathering in Canada.

Asked whether and how the G-7 meeting will take up the issue of the Chinese
currency, Kan said to reporters in Tokyo, ''How far should we take up the topic
at a place where the interested party, China, is absent?...In one sense, I
think discussing the matter at the G-20 meeting would be fair.''
China is not a member of the G-7.
Kan, also deputy prime minister, made the remarks before flying to Canada's
Iqaluit, just south of the Arctic Circle, to make his international debut at
the meeting of G-7 industrialized countries -- Britain, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
The G-20 consists of the G-7 countries plus emerging heavyweights such as
Brazil, China, India and Russia.
U.S. President Barack Obama hinted Wednesday that the huge U.S. trade deficit
with China is partly due to an undervalued yuan, while vowing to get ''much
tougher'' in enforcing trade rules and to put ''constant pressure'' on China to
open its market.
Meanwhile, China on Thursday dismissed the idea that the yuan's exchange rate
is the major cause of its trade surplus with the United States, saying the
value of the yuan is at a ''reasonable and balanced'' level.
Kan said each G-7 country has a great interest in China's ''current situation''
and he is aware that he or Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, who will
also attend the G-7 meeting, may be asked by their counterparts about how Japan
views China as a neighboring Asian country.
''We want China to grow steadily, this is Japan's basic attitude,'' Kan said,
adding that China appears to be making efforts to that end.
As for Obama's proposal to toughen banking regulations, Kan said it is
''understandable,'' but he also emphasized the importance of making sure any
tougher regulations do not undermine recovery.
Noting that it is premature to say the recession is completely over and
referring to recent falls in stock prices in both the United States and Japan,
Kan said it is necessary to achieve a ''good balance'' between efforts to
realize an economic recovery and to improve the financial sector.
''If I have an opportunity, I would like to discuss it, taking this stance,''
he said.
==Kyodo
2010-02-05 23:17:54


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