CHINESE Vice Premier Wang Qishan met with United States Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner yesterday amid currency tensions after a weekendpledge by finance leaders to rebalance the global economy.

Wang and Geithner exchanged views on China-US economic relations at an airport in the eastern city of Qingdao but no details were released.

The two also discussed preparations for a meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 major economies in Seoul on November 11 and 12.

Plans for the Wang-Geithner meeting were announced on Saturday as G20 finance officials and central bankers wrapped up their meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea.

The two sides decided higher-level contact was required after Geithner was in Gyeongju with China's Finance Minister Xie Xuren and other officials.

Geithner said China will continue to move towards exchange rate flexibility and is now actively engaged on global foreign exchange issues.

Geithner, in an interview with Bloomberg Television after the G20 meeting, said China does not want the US Federal Reserve to control its monetarypolicy.

"They're an independent country, a large economy. They need the flexibility to run their policies in a way that makes sense for China," Geithner said.

"That requires that their exchange rate move up over time as they're now doing and we want to see that continue. They've got a way to go but I think they're committed," he said. "You're going to see them continue to move."

On October 15, the US Treasury chief has delayed a decision on whether to declare that China manipulates its currency for exportadvantage. Instead, US officials praised the recent appreciation of the yuan but said it must continue. They said the currency report would not be issued until after the G20 talks.

A bigger role

At the Gyeongju meeting, the G20 financeministers and central bankers promised to avoid debilitating currency devaluations and reduce trade and financial imbalances and to give China and other major developing countries a bigger role in managing the global economy.

"If we're going to be able to continue to expand opportunities for trade and preserve an open trading system, then we need to work to achieve more balance in the pattern of global growth," Geithner said on Saturday.

Geithner said it was significant that the G20 directly addressed currencies with cooperation from China and other key emerging markets.

"The world has changed dramatically and it's very important that we're discussing these things with China, with India, with Brazil."

• premier [´premiə] n.总理 a.首要的 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• pledge [pledʒ] n.信物；誓约vt.使发誓 (初中英语单词)
• finance [´fainæns] n.财政；金融 vt.资助 (初中英语单词)
• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
• contact [´kɔntækt] n.接触；联系 v.联络 (初中英语单词)
• minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
• interview [´intəvju:] n.&vt.接见；会见；交谈 (初中英语单词)
• federal [´fedərəl] a.联邦的，联邦制的 (初中英语单词)
• export [ik´spɔ:t] vt.&n.输出，出口 (初中英语单词)
• advantage [əd´vɑ:ntidʒ] n.优势；利益 (初中英语单词)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
• preserve [pri´zə:v] v.保藏 n.保藏物 (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
• achieve [ə´tʃi:v] vt.完成；达到；获得 (初中英语单词)
• cooperation [kəu,ɔpə´reiʃən] n.合作；协作 (初中英语单词)
• currency [´kʌrənsi] n.通货；通用；货币 (高中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
• appreciation [ə,pri:ʃi´eiʃən] n.评价；感激 (高中英语单词)
• expand [ik´spænd] vt.张开；膨胀；扩大 (高中英语单词)
• significant [sig´nifikənt] a.重要的；意义重大的 (高中英语单词)
• weekend [´wi:kend, ,wi:k´end] n.周末休假 (英语四级单词)
• actively [´æktivli] ad.活跃地，积极地 (英语四级单词)
• policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)
• monetary [´mʌnitəri] a.金融的；货币的 (英语六级单词)