Obama, Romney say
China must play by rules
AP, WASHINGTON
US President Barack Obama, left,
passes Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney following the final
presidential debate in Boca Raton, Florida, on Monday.
Photo: AFP
US President Barack Obama and presidential
rival Mitt Romney sparred over China during a debate on foreign policy on Monday
night, but as usual the focus was less the Asian giantˇ¦s rise as a world power
than its the impact on the US economy.
Both candidates said they want the US to have a positive relationship with
China, but Beijing must play by international trade rules.
China played a relatively minor part in the debate ˇX the last topic raised by
moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS News in the 90-minute encounter ˇX that was
dominated by the security situation in the Middle East.
Romney repeated his threat to designate China a currency manipulator on his
first day in office for allegedly undervaluing the yuan to help its exporters,
which he said would allow the US to apply punitive tariffs. He also accused the
Chinese of stealing US intellectual property and computer hacking.
ˇ§I want a great relationship with China,ˇ¨ Romney said. ˇ§China can be our
partner, but that does not mean they can just roll all over us and take our jobs
on an unfair basis.ˇ¨
Obama described China as both an adversary and a potential international
partner. He defended his record in addressing Chinaˇ¦s trade violations, saying
his administration had brought more cases than his predecessor, former US
president George W. Bush, did in two terms.
The US is running a record trade deficit with China ˇX it reached US$295.5
billion last year ˇX and Romney pointed out it has widened year by year.
Obama said that in order to build businesses to compete with China in the
long-term, the US needed to ˇ§take care of business at homeˇ¨ by supporting
education and research.
Romney, who said the US could not just ˇ§surrenderˇ¨ in the face of trade
violations, rolled his eyes at Obamaˇ¦s mention of education as a way of making
the US more competitive against China.
The tone of the debate ˇX the last of three held between the candidates before
the vote ˇX underscores how the tightly contested the Nov. 6 election is being
fought, primarily over the state of the US economy, with unemployment running at
just less than 8 percent.
Neither candidate grappled with the deeper challenges of Chinaˇ¦s rise ˇX that it
has managed to build a competitive economy, while maintaining an authoritarian
political system. There was also little substantive discussion of the challenge
posed to US military pre-eminence in the Asia-Pacific region by Chinaˇ¦s rapid
military buildup.
Romney said that China needs to create 20 million jobs every year and that it
wants a stable world in which it can trade its goods, but he said China would
not respect a US that has a heavily indebted economy and is cutting back its
military.
Obama contended that the US is stronger in the world today than when he took
office. He said that his administrationˇ¦s strategic ˇ§pivotˇ¨ toward the
Asia-Pacific region as the US winds down its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was
because it would be a region of massive economic growth in the future.
ˇ§We believe China can be a partner, but we are also sending a very clear message
that America is a Pacific power and we are going to have a presence there,ˇ¨ he
said.
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