China insists US undo harm from Obama-Dalai Lama meet

(TibetanReview.net, Mar19, 2010) Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has blamed the United States for having seriously disrupted relation between the two countries, citing US leaders' meetings with the Dalai Lama and the country's arms sales to Taiwan, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Mar14. He had said such actions had violated China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Speaking Mar 14 at his annual press conference after the conclusion of the country’s annual parliament session, Wen also blamed the US for everything else that was wrong in their bilateral relations. "The responsibility did not lie with China," he was quoted as saying. He wanted the US to take steps to restore bilateral ties.

He said the bilateral ties witnessed a good beginning after US President Barack Obama took office, apparently referring to the latter’s initial soft line on China’s human rights record and issues like Tibet.

He said the past 30 years of Sino-US ties proves that dialogue and cooperation benefit the two nations, confrontation and sanctions hurt both.

Wen called Sino-US relation one of the most important foreign ties for China, “for it not only concerns the two countries and peoples, but also goes beyond the bilateral scope”.

Wen rejected the international criticism, especially from the US, that the value of the Chinese yuan is being artificially kept low to give unfair advantage to Chinese exporters. At the end of 2009, China overtook Germany as the world’s biggest exporter. The Chinese yuan is "not undervalued," the official China Daily online Mar 14 cited him as saying.

And yet, Wen called himself a staunch supporter of free trade. "We are opposed to the position of engaging in mutual finger-pointing or taking strong measures to force other countries to adjust exchange rates," AP Mar 14 quoted Wen as saying in his more than two-hour news conference.

Wen also spoke on the economic, social and even political uncertainties facing the country. "Inflation, unfair income distribution and corruption affect the social stability, even the State's power," he was quoted said.

Wen also denied that China acted arrogantly during the Copenhagen climate talks last year, although it was widely reported by the international press, including with descriptions of specific instances, that it did.