Carney denies Washington easy on China

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- White House press secretary Jay Carney Friday denied the Obama administration has gone easy on China to make sure Beijing continued buying U.S. debt.

Carney reacted to an op-ed piece by Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal that criticized President Obama for "moving in the wrong direction" in dealing with China.

"President Obama came into office as a near supplicant to Beijing, almost begging it to continue buying American debt so as to finance his profligate spending here at home," Romney wrote. "His administration demurred from raising issues of human rights for fear it would compromise agreement on the global economic crisis or even 'the global climate-change crisis.' Such weakness has only encouraged Chinese assertiveness and made our allies question our staying power in East Asia. …

"In the economic arena, we must directly counter abusive Chinese practices in the areas of trade, intellectual property, and currency valuation," the former Massachusetts governor wrote.

During the press briefing aboard Air Force One en route to San Francisco, Carney said the administration "has worked with China and others around the globe on issues of concern including valuation of the Chinese currency. We always raise this issue with the Chinese leadership … [as] part of the emphasis on ensuring a level playing field."

Carney said Obama's talks with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping "were very candid."

"This administration has been very focused on pressing the Chinese to take the necessary steps," Carney said.