World pays greater attention to China's role: US expert

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-04 20:55

LOS ANGELES -- A US economist lauded China's role in the G20 Summit, saying other countries were paying greater attention to what China has said and done.

In an interview with Xinhua on Friday, James Barth, a senior economist at the Milken Institute, an independent think tank, said when China was speaking about the role of the world currency, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner retreated what he said because China is so important in helping fund the US deficit.

China is a key player in what is happening to interest rate and financing the deficit in the United States, Barth said.

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The United States needs to cooperate with China, and China also needs to work with the United States in tackling the current financial crisis, he said.

Regarding China's concern over its losses in investment in U.S. assets, Barth argued that the U.S. treasury securities are among the safest in the world today, adding if China invested in other assets, the situation could be worse.

He also noted that it is clearly not in the interest of China, nor the U.S., nor the world economy if China moves too quickly to try to re-balance its portfolio.

China knows that and other countries do too. The world is grateful for what China is doing, he said.

"I think China is doing very well," Barth said, adding China is making effort to curb the downturn of its economic growth, and China is still in the positive growth.

As for the Chinese currency, the U.S. scholar said it is too early to talk about the RMB becoming a world currency now, but it could happen some day as China's expanding economy has become more integrated into the global economy.

If China continues to grow in the way it has, there is no reason not to believe that China's currency will become ever more important and play a major role in the world, he added.

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