外交部回应美国将中国移出汇率操纵国名单：美方最新结论符合事实
外交部回应美国将中国移出汇率操纵国名单：美方最新结论符合事实
林立丰 BUMBLEBEE英语课堂 今天
外交部发言人耿爽1月14日在例行记者会上表示，作为一个负责任的大国，中国曾多次重申不会搞竞争性货币贬值，没有也不会将汇率作为工具来应对贸易争端等外部扰动。
有记者问，美国财政部将中国从“汇率操纵国”名单中移除，中方有何评论？
耿爽表示，中国本来就不是汇率操纵国。美方的最新结论符合事实以及国际社会共识。最近一次国际货币基金组织（IMF）的评估结论认为，人民币汇率水平大体上是符合经济基本面的，客观上否认了中国是“汇率操纵国”的说法。
他表示，中国是一个负责任的大国，我们曾多次重申不会搞竞争性货币贬值，没有也不会将汇率作为工具来应对贸易争端等外部扰动。
他说，中国将坚定不移地深化汇率市场化改革，继续完善以市场供求为基础、参考一篮子货币进行调节、有管理的浮动汇率制度，保持人民币汇率在合理均衡水平上的基本稳定。
The United States on Monday removed the label of "currency manipulator（汇率操纵国）" from China, a move experts said is "just recognizing reality" and will be welcomed by investors.
The US Treasury Department said in a report to Congress that no major US trading partner currently meets the relevant legislative criteria for currency manipulation.
Noting that the department assessed developments over the last several months with China and its currency practices, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement that "China has made enforceable commitments to refrain from competitive devaluation（竞争性货币贬值）, while promoting transparency and accountability."
The announcement came five months after the Trump administration designated（标示；把···定名为） China a "currency manipulator" in August.
A report released by the International Monetary Fund in early August did not support the designation, saying that China's real effective exchange rate in 2018 was estimated to be at the same level as warranted by fundamentals and desirable policies.
"China has not been manipulating its currency, so this is just recognizing reality," said David Dollar, senior fellow at the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution.
Mark Sobel, US chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, an independent think tank, also said China shouldn't have been designated to start with.
"Designation was blatant（公然的）/errant（出格的） political act," Sobel tweeted Monday.
In a recent statement, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said China will continue to let the market play a decisive role in exchange-rate formation and keep the renminbi's exchange rate generally stable at a reasonable and balanced level.
Yi Gang, the central banker, said in Washington in late October that the exchange rate of China's renminbi, or yuan, is "at an appropriate level", judging both from economic fundamentals and from market supply and demand.
The US' dropping of the currency manipulator designation came the same day that a Chinese trade delegation, led by Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He, arrived in Washington for the signing of a phase one trade deal at the White House, scheduled for Wednesday.
Andrew Karolyi, a professor of finance at Cornell University, said investors will welcome the action largely because it appears to be tied to an impending agreement set to normalize trade relations with China.
"These steps individually and together help to reduce global trade policy uncertainty, something markets have been craving for months," Karolyi told China Daily.
"It is more than just symbolic, as lower trade policy uncertainty likely means more trade flows and greater cross-border portfolio and corporate investment flows, all of which stimulates more economic growth," he said.
Following the US Treasury announcement, the central parity rate of the renminbi reached a five-month high on Tuesday.
The central parity rate strengthened 309 pips ("point in percentage", or a single-digit move in the fourth decimal place in a currency pair) to 6.8954 against the US dollar, which was its strongest level since Aug 1, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
The US Treasury Department under the Trump administration previously released five semiannual reports on major trading partners' exchange-rate policies — including one in May 2019 — none of which labeled China a currency manipulator.
The US has reversed its decision to brand China a currency manipulator as the two countries prepare to wind down（逐步停止；逐渐关闭） their trade war.
The US said it made the change because China had agreed to refrain from devaluing its currency to make its own goods cheaper for foreign buyers.
Washington and Beijing are expected to sign that "phase one" pact this week.
The deal is aimed at de-escalating the tit-for-tat（针锋相对；以牙还牙） tariff（关税） war the two countries have engaged in since 2018.
"China has made enforceable commitments to refrain from competitive devaluation, while promoting transparency and accountability," US Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused China of allowing the value of the yuan to fall, making Chinese goods cheaper.
But, on Monday, the US said that the value of the yuan had appreciated（增值；升值）since August, at the height of the trade war.
Mr Mnuchin also said that China had made "enforceable commitments" to refrain from devaluation and to share more information about its exchange rates.
"In this context, Treasury has determined that China should no longer be designated as a currency manipulator at this time," the Treasury said.
Trade tensions
The US officially named China a currency manipulator in August when tensions were high between Beijing and Washington.
China had pledged to（发誓；许诺） retaliate against Mr Trump's threat to put a 10% tariff on another $300bn (£246.7bn) of Chinese imports.
At the time, China blamed the weakening of its currency on the market, suggesting investors were concerned about the escalating trade war between the two countries.
That was supported by the International Monetary Fund, which found that the currency was valued fairly.
Under the US definition, currency manipulation is the deliberate effort by a country to influence the exchange rates between its currency and the US dollar to gain an "unfair competitive advantage in international trade".
Mr Trump, who blames China for a decline in US manufacturing, promised to label China a manipulator during his 2016 election campaign.
But after he took office, he appeared to soften his tone. The US Treasury did not apply the designation in its regular reports to Congress about currency movements.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin eventually made the move, after reported pressure from the president. It was the first time the US had officially branded a country a currency manipulator since 1994.
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