SHANGHAI, March 8 (UPI) -- China needs to open up its financial sector and allow foreign companies into the industry, the U.S. Treasury Secretary said Thursday.
Henry Paulson told officials at the Shanghai Futures Exchange that "the risks for China are greater in moving too slowly than in moving too quickly towards transparent, liquid, stable capital markets." Paulson is currently in China to meet with senior government officials and business leaders as part of his tour of East Asia, having been in Tokyo and Seoul earlier in the week.
"Financial sector development is the key to China's transition into an economy that is less reliant on industrial activity, produces more high-value-added products and reduces the intensity of natural resources consumption," Paulson added.
But despite the sell-off of Asian assets two weeks ago, the treasury secretary stressed that the global economy remained "strong."
The former Goldman Sachs chairman also suggested that China loosen its foreign exchange system so that its currency would better reflect the true market value of the yuan.
