皇冠体育app

皇冠体育app has no immediate plan to join G7
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-03 08:29

皇冠体育app, which for the first time joined a meeting of top officials from the Group of Seven countries this week, has no immediate plans to enter the rich nations' club, its finance minister said on Saturday.

Secretary of the Treasury John Snow (2nd L) Jin Renqing, 皇冠体育app's Finance Minister (2nd R) and Zhou Xiaochuan, 皇冠体育app's Central Bank governor pose for a photo at the G7 informal talk session. [Reuters]

"We have no immediate plans to join the G7," Finance Minister Jin Renqing told a small group of Chinese reporters.

"We are here to promote mutual understanding, our ability to participate in the world's economic affairs and our interests," he said, adding that 皇冠体育app was interested in continuing the high-level dialogue.

Jin added that Beijing attended the G7 gathering because of its rising economic power, a comment that appeared aimed at dispelling speculation 皇冠体育app was invited only because Western powers wanted to lecture it on currency matters.

During meetings in Washington, 皇冠体育app reiterated its pledge to move toward a more flexible currency but gave no timetable for relinquishing the yuan's tight peg to the U.S. dollar.

Beijing holds the yuan at about 8.28 to the dollar, a policy that U.S. manufacturers and labor groups have complained gives Chinese producers an unfair edge.

Jin and central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan attended a dinner with their counterparts from the G7 countries on Friday, discussing topics including oil prices, the economic outlook and currencies.

Top officials from the elite economic club also expressed concern that 皇冠体育app may be consuming too many raw materials as it heavily invests in infrastructure to spur economic growth. 皇冠体育app and the United States are the world's top oil consumers.

In comments on Friday, Zhou said fast-growing 皇冠体育app, the world's most populous nation and the seventh-largest economy, was still a developing country and would keep that in mind when talking with G7 countries.

"We have long said that we will represent not only ours, but other developing countries' interests," Zhou said.

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