Xi Jinping Defends China's Stock Market Interventions on 1st US Visit
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – China’s President Xi Jinping has sought to reassure global concern about the world’s second-largest economy, defending his government’s actions in the stock market and saying growth will be maintained.
“China’s economy will stay on a steady course with fairly fast growth. It’s still operating in a proper range with a growth rate of 7% ... Our economy is under pressure but that is part of the path on the way toward growth,” theChinese president said in a speech in Seattle on Tuesday, the first day of his state visit to the US, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
The president defended his government’s intervention into the country’s stock market saying the “recent abnormal ups and downs” in the market had now reached “a phase of self-recovery”.
Xi also reiterated there was no basis for continuing depreciation of the renminbi, saying Beijing was opposed to currency wars and would not devalue yuan to boost exports.
World markets experienced more than a month of volatility after China devalued its currency, fuelling concerns about the state of the world’s No 2 economy.
Xi also used the speech to hit back at allegations that Beijing has been engaging in cyber hacking, saying China was also a victim of hacking.
“China is a staunch defender of cybersecurity,” he said, “The Chinese government will not engage in commercial theft or encourage such attempts by anyone.”
Xi said China was ready to work closely with Washington on the issue through a high-level joint mechanism to fight cyber crime.
Cyber security has long been an irritant in relations between China and the United States with a recent attack on the US government’s Office of Personnel Management, compromising the data of 4 million current and former federal employees.
