'China is an opportunity, not a threat'
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-03-07 08:11

The US should look at the transformation of China as an opportunity for growth, not as a threat to be contained, Chinese ambassador to the US Zhou Wenzhong said Monday.

Zhou made the call when meeting a group of Memphis business and government leaders during a luncheon, the Memphis Business Journal reported.

China is ready to open markets further to US products to adjust the trade imbalance which stands at 114.197 billion in 2005, the ambassador was cited as saying. US Department of Commerce put the imbalance figure at US$201.6 billion.

Responding to calls for further reevaluation of Chinese currency, renminbi, Zhou said that: "Our moves will be prudent and established and this is good for China, good for Asia and good for the US."

Last July, the People's Republic of China announced a reevaluation of renminbi, downward from an exchange rate of 8.28 to 8.11 after a decade at the previous rate, and ended the decade-old peg to US dollars.