在线国产一区二区_成人黄色片在线观看_国产成人免费_日韩精品免费在线视频_亚洲精品美女久久_欧美一级免费在线观看

  Home>News Center>China
       
 

RMB is not cause of US trade deficit
By Chen Jinde (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-04-30 06:47

Some US senators have recently blamed China for the Sino-US trade deficit hitting a new high last year and have proposed placing a 27.5 per cent tariff on all Chinese products if China does not revalue the yuan.

They believe that if China had appreciated its currency, the US deficit problem would have been solved. But it is unfair to blame China when one considers the following facts.

Does China export too many products to the United States? No. According to US statistics, since 1994 Canada has been the biggest exporter to the United States. In 2004 Canada's exports to the United States amounted to US$ 256 billion, 30 per cent greater than China's. The second and the third largest exporters to the US market were Japan and Mexico before 2003. China became the second largest after 2003.

The reason why the trade gap between the United States and China is so big is that US exports to China are far less than those sent to Canada, Mexico and Japan.

The Chinese Government has not manipulated its currency exchange rate to limit imports from any country, including the United States. According to Chinese customs statistics, China had a trade surplus of about US$32 billion in 2004. Considering US trade statistics, it could be implied that China had a huge trade deficit of US$130 billion with the rest of the world. In 2004 China's imports from Asia accounted for about 66 per cent of its total imports, while imports from the United States were only 8 per cent of the total. China had huge trade deficits with South Korea, Japan, and ASEAN nations. Plus the mainland's trade dificits with its island province of Taiwan, the total reached about US$127 billion.

Since China opened to the outside world in 1978 and has been shifting from a planned economy to a market economy, more and more foreign direct investment (FDI) has come into China. The import and export conditions in China have changed a lot. Foreign-funded companies in China have driven the main part of the Chinese import and export markets. In 2004, import and export values of foreign-funded companies accounted for about 60 per cent of the country's total trade volume.

FDI in China mainly came from Asian markets, such as those in Japan, South Korea, Singapore as well as from Taiwan, which realized FDI of US$16.8 billion in 2004, nearly 50 per cent of the country's total (except FDI from Hong Kong and the Virgin Islands).

Those overseas-funded companies aimed their money at not only the rapidly growing Chinese market with its 1.3 billion consumers but also at the country's lower labour costs.

China is a low-middle-income country. The gross domestic product per capita just exceeded US$1,000 in 2004. Average hourly labour compensation for urban manufacturing workers is only about US$1, accounting for 4.7 per cent of the US level. If the Chinese currency appreciated by 100 per cent over the US dollar, the average hourly labour cost in China still would amount to only US$2, less than 10 per cent of US level.

The majority of the Chinese population still live in rural areas, providing an abundant and low-cost labour supply.

Lower labour costs triggered a massive shift of Asian manufacturing capacity and export orders to China, especially from Japan, Taiwan Province, and South Korea, whose investments are export-oriented. Originally they produced products in their hometowns to export to United States. Now they moved to the Chinese mainland to do such work. In the beginning labour-intensive export processing, such as apparel, footwear, toys, furniture, moved to China, while gradually tech-intensive export processing, such as notebook computers, hard disc-drives and chip industry manufacturing has also moved here, too.

China has been increasingly integrated into the global manufacturing and supply chain. There are more and more Japanese and South Korean brands of electronic goods with a "Made in China" tag in the US market. These trends are obviously related to the shift of a great number of export-oriented production lines from leading Asian economies into China.

China needs to import more raw materials, parts, equipment and machine tools for export purposes and its domestic market. The main import sources for China are from Asia, not the United States. In 2003, imports from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea by overseas-funded companies totalled US$116 billion, accounting for more than half of the mainland's total imports, while import from US was just 7.5 per cent of the total.

There are several reasons why foreign-funded companies in China prefer importing from Asia to importing from the United States.

First, a large fraction of Chinese exports were related to processing and assembly activities of foreign-funded companies. Major parts, components, equipment and technology needed by assembly lines still stay in home countries. The assembly lines need to frequently import from foreign-funded companies' parent companies, which are mostly located in Asia.

Second, some companies, especially Japanese and South Korean subsidiaries in China, usually purchase goods from their inter-firms (parent company or intra-industry) in their home countries.

Third, Japan, South Korea and ASEAN economies are Chinese neighbours. The costs of transportation are far cheaper than US exports to China.

Fourth, same quality goods from Asia are generally cheaper than those from the United States because of different labour costs. For instance, in 2003 hourly compensation costs of manufacturing workers in South Korea were about 47 per cent of those in the United States.

Fifth, China is a big high-tech importer now. China needs to import more high-tech products, some of which sometimes can only be produced by the United States. According to US statistics, in 2003 China imported US aircraft, nuclear reactors, machinery and equipment worth US$10.6 billion, accounting for 40 per cent of China's imports from the United States. High-tech exports are one of US manufacturers comparative advantages. But this advantage was weakened by some US policies, especially the rigid controls over such exports to China.

In 2003, US high-tech exports to China were 10 per cent of the Chinese total high-tech imports, ranking as just the fifth largest source of China's imports of such goods.

The conclusion is clear: The reason for the US trade deficit with China is not about China's currency exchange rate. The key problem is some American policies which cause US manufacturers to lose their comparative advantages to other exporters.

If the United States truly wishes to compete on a fair and open playing field, it should review its policies, including its erroneous trade policies regarding China, rather than simply making China a scapegoat. To place tariffs on all Chinese products will only hurt the interest of both countries.

(The author is deputy secretaray-general of the Guangzhou Municipal People's Government.)  

(China Daily 04/30/2005 page4)



 
  Today's Top News     Top China News
 

CPC, KMT leaders vow to end hostility across the Straits

 

   
 

New authority to oversee energy sector

 

   
 

EU launches investigation into textile imports

 

   
 

RMB is not cause of US trade deficit

 

   
 

Pentagon proposes China-US military hotline

 

   
 

Deadly Shanghai fire kills 10, injures 19

 

   
  Foreign companies ignoring labour laws
   
  WTO fearing escalation of textile trade row
   
  Pentagon proposes China-US military hotline
   
  New rules to tackle construction deaths
   
  Hong Kong's good life losing its appeal
   
  Toxic gas leak victims in stable condition
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Bush, US Senate jerk up pressure on yuan
   
Yuan revaluation won't help US trade deficit
   
Economists back yuan policy
   
FM rebuts US threat of economic sanctions
   
US Congress move on RMB 'counterproductive'
  News Talk  
  It is time to prepare for Beijing - 2008  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 91麻豆精品一二三区在线 | 精品国产一区二区三区久久久蜜臀 | 中文字幕视频免费观看 | av大片| 欧美一区二区三区在线视频观看 | 国产一级淫免费播放m | 国产一区二区三区免费观看 | 99精品亚洲| 欧美日韩久久久 | 日韩视频欧美视频 | 日韩在线视频免费看 | 精品久久中文字幕 | 一区二区高清 | 一区二区在线免费观看 | 中文字幕一区二区三区四区五区 | 欧美综合第一页 | 97av| 国产另类一区 | 日本精品视频在线观看 | 日韩高清成人 | 成人黄视频在线观看 | 国产九色视频 | 成人欧美一区二区三区在线播放 | 国内成人精品2018免费看 | 久久99精品久久久水蜜桃 | 午夜高清视频 | 久久美女免费视频 | 欧美精品一区二区在线观看 | 精品国产三级 | 羞羞网站在线观看 | 中文字幕亚洲二区 | 欧美日韩大片在线观看 | 激情久久五月天 | 日韩综合在线 | 亚洲精品66| 99福利视频| 麻豆免费短视频 | 国产精品美女久久久久久久网站 | 国产一级淫片91aaa | 九九九九精品九九九九 | 亚洲经典自拍 |