U.S. blaming of yuan misplaced

Yan Xizao, China Daily Asia News Network, Beijing

United States Treasury Secretary John Snow is in Beijing passing on U.S. concerns about the value of our currency, the yuan or renminbi.

What has pushed Snow to our doorsteps is a tide of complaints that display a gradual drain of sensibility in his home country.

From Washington to major manufacturing bases, the arguments are rampant that China should be held accountable for the economic troubles dogging the U.S. It is claimed that by artificially keeping its currency weak, China has gained unfair advantages for its cheap exports to the U.S., thus throwing U.S. citizens out of work. A well-touted prescription that is also favored by the White House is the appreciation of the yuan.

Even Japan has jumped on the bandwagon, even though it fell into further economic misery after it raised the value of its own currency under U.S. pressure.

The calls are so overbearing that it would appear that all countries are the victims of Chinese selfishness.

It no longer matters how unselfish China was during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The very same decision, once acclaimed as heroic, not to devalue our currency when our neighbors did is now coming under fire.

Neither does it seem to matter whether the economic difficulties of the U.S. and Japan have their roots in those countries.

China is now on trial. As reason gives in, an issue that is economic in nature is dressed up in a weighty political matter.

Snow talked about growth during his visit to Japan earlier this week. He is obviously aware of the significance of growth for an economy.

The U.S. and Japanese economies must grow to get out of their current plights.

The Chinese economy cannot afford not to grow. Once the Chinese economic locomotive loses steam, so does the world's.

In this sense, China's idea of basing its currency policy firmly on its own national conditions is in itself a contribution to the world as a whole because this policy delivers genuine benefits.

As those with insight have observed, the appreciation of the yuan may ultimately go against the intentions of its advocates by throttling the Chinese economy and damaging their own economies in return.

After all, our economies are now interwoven more tightly than ever.

For the well-being of the Chinese and U.S. economies, as well as that of the world, both Snow and his Chinese counterparts should follow the dictates of reason in their dealings with the now politically charged topic.