If the US had labeled China a currency manipulator, we would likely to have seen a chill in the relations between the world’s biggest and second biggest economies. Now the last time, the US named China, a manipulator was back in 1994 but since then both Republican as well as Democratic administration in the US had believed that it’s better to use a character rather than stick to get Beijing to lift value of its currency, the RMB. Now Beijing first losing controls on its currency paid back in 2005, back then it was just under 8.3 of a dollar you can see here. But since then, China’s currency has appreciated nearly this much, nearly 25% against the dollars. Still, it widely believed that the RMB should be stronger than its current value. And in a statement on Tuesday, the US Treasury said as much, said this: China’s currency “remains significantly undervalued, and further appreciation against the dollar and other major currencies is warranted.” Now the criticism of course is that a weaker RMB gives Chinese goods in unfair price advantage on the global market but with China’s leadership transitions still ongoing through earlier next year. It’s likely we want to see any more appreciation until that is all over.
如果美国将汇率操作国的标签贴在中国身上,我们很可能将看到在世界上第一大和第二大经济体之间嗖嗖升腾起的寒意。截止目前,上一次美国将中国定义为汇率操作国的时间是在1994。但是,自从那时起,美国共和国和民主党政府都深信,最好是use a character,而不是坚持北京升值人民币。北京于2005年首度放弃对人民币汇率的控制,当时人民币与美元的兑换比值为1:8.3。自从那时起,人们币比照美元开始升值,升了近1/4。然而,人们普遍认为人民币应该比现在的价值更为强劲。美国财务部周三发表的申明就此做了很多评论,“中国的货币‘仍然被明显低估,人民币对美元及其他主要货币的进一步升值是有根据的。”当然现在的批评理据主要是:一个弱势的RMB使中国商品在全球市场上获得不公正的价格优势,但是由于中国的领导人过渡一直要进行到明年初,到那时我们将有可能看到人民币再次升值。