President Obama’s new nominee for the position of commerce secretary, Gary Locke, could help strengthen economic ties between China and the U.S. Locke, son of Chinese immigrants, has shown extensive commitment to U.S.-China relations during his two terms in office as governor of Washington state. The nomination of Locke comes at a time where bilateral ties between China and the U.S. are increasingly important for both countries. Locke’s cultural background and familiarity with China could help strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries.
Sun Mingchun, an economist with Nomura International, sees potential for China’s fiscal stimulus plan to be doubled over the next three years, spurring an investment boom similar to the early 1990s. Amidst falling export demand and a struggling domestic property market, Sun sets his forecast on China’s future investment growth. High savings rates, foreign exchange reserves of $ 1.95 trillion, and demand growth through rural dwellers moving to urban areas could further help spur economic growth of up to eight percent, according to Sun.
Faced with severe decrease in export growth China’s President Hu Jintao again emphasized the importance of domestic demand for overall economic growth. At a meeting of the Politburo the President announced “more forceful” measures to increase domestic consumption in order to cushion the drop in export growth.
China’s State Council announced plans to boost domestic demand for nonferrous metals and strictly control capacity expansions. As part of the stimulus plan for nonferrous metals China plans to encourage mergers within the industry and provide financial aid to domestic metal producers.
