US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Thursday that China's
economic development is "very, very important" to China and the
rest of the world.
"I really believe that a China that is a growing part of the
global economy is going to benefit the US and benefit the rest of
the world," Paulson said in an interview with Fox News.
Paulson said that China's economic relationship is very
important with the United States and with the rest of the
world.
"And the more constructive engagement we all have together, the
higher the cost of any kind of conflict or anything that would
undermine the global economic stability," he added.
Paulson noted that the United States has some very important
economic relationships, "but I really believe the most important
long-term economic relationship we're going to have is going to be
our relationship with China and vice versa."
Mentioning that some people are concerned that China is somehow
or other going to outcompete the United States and overtake the US
economy, Paulson said that "the thing I am most concerned about is
that China won't move ahead quickly enough with their reforms and
that if they don't move ahead quickly enough with their reforms,
then they may have their own economic issues."
China has got some formidable economic challenges, he said, "I
would like to believe they're going to continue with their reform
program and that they're going to accelerate the pace of those
reforms."
"China needs to keep growing its economy, needs to keep
reforming its economy, needs stable economic relations around the
world, and I think that's very important of China," Paulson
said.
(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2006)
