CHINESE OFFICIALS CALL FOR LESS FRICTION WITH U.S.

September 8, 2010 By KEITH BRADSHER
HONG KONG — Top Chinese officials are calling for quiet discussions instead of open friction with the United States, after a summer marked by bilateral disagreements over the value of China’s currency, American military exercises off the Korean Peninsula and American efforts to resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

State media showed Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday meeting with Lawrence H. Summers, the director of the National Economic Council, and Thomas E. Donilon, the deputy national security adviser. American and Chinese officials have been trying to lay the groundwork for a state visit to the United States this winter by the Chinese president.

Wednesday’s meeting with Mr. Hu followed earlier talks this week in Beijing by the two American officials that were aimed not at fashioning new pacts, but at maintaining a dialogue that had been strained at times in recent months.

“Strategic trust is the basis of China-U.S. cooperation,” said Dai Bingguo, a Chinese state councilor who met with them, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told the two Americans that China and the United States should not view themselves as rivals, according to the Chinese state news media.

Both countries have been seeking an agreement to resume contacts between the two countries’ militaries. China suspended military exchanges last winter to protest a White House decision to proceed with arms sales to Taiwan. Beijing officials regard Taiwan as a renegade province.

On Wednesday, the South China Morning Post, citing unnamed Chinese officials, reported that the two countries had agreed to negotiations for the resumption military exchanges.

But Chinese officials were quick to dash any hopes that a thaw in Chinese-American relations would lead to appreciation of China’s currency, the renminbi. After strengthening on Monday on the hope that the talks in Beijing might produce a breakthrough, the currency’s value retreated in offshore futures trading on Tuesday after Jiang Yu, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Beijing, said, “Our exchange rate reform can’t be pressed ahead under external pressure.”

After keeping the renminbi tightly pegged to the dollar for nearly three years, China announced on June 19 that it would allow greater flexibility. But the renminbi has inched up less than 1 percent since then against the dollar, as China has continued to intervene heavily in currency markets to prevent a more rapid currency appreciation that could hurt the competitiveness of Chinese goods in overseas markets.