US Trade Secretary:China Must Reduce Reliance on Exports

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is currently in China on a Clean Energy Trade Mission that has seen him, along with a party of forty-six US business executives, visit Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. Today (Friday, May 21) he took part in a question-and-answer session with students at Beijing's Tsinghua University. CRI's Dominic Swire was there and brings us this report.

China must reduce its reliance on exports to ensure its economy can be protected from downturns elsewhere in the world. This was one of the messages US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke expressed to students at Beijing's Tsinghua University earlier today (May 21) during an ongoing trade mission to the Chinese capital.

Locke said China needs to focus on developing its internal market.

"China's leaders have talked about less exports -- export will still be major part of your economy but you need to export a little bit less -- and you need to support your companies and industries within China by focusing on domestic consumption."

Locke's trade mission, which includes 24 US companies, is focused on developing trade between China and the US within the area of clean energy. A sector, he says that holds huge potential for growth.

"The development of the clean energy and energy efficiency technologies that we need to help curb greenhouse gas emissions could be one of the biggest economic opportunities of the 21st Century. Worldwide, energy is a 6 trillion dollar market and the fastest growing sector is the cleaner greener type."

But despite all the positive talk of future cooperation, some students in the audience remained cautious about the future relationship between the two countries. Yi Ran is from the Department of Automotive Engineering.

"I'm not really positive about the cooperation now because there's a lot of counter-reaction between these countries and there's a lot of agreement and details to be settled down… Maybe in 10 or 15 years if both realize the importance of this cooperation I think the future will be positive."

Exactly how many deals will be signed as a result of this trade mission remains to be seen. What's clear is that clean energy sector in both of these countries will play a key part in ensuring a sustainable future for the planet.

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire