Brussels, 30/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - Taking a different approach to the United States on this controversial question of the value of the Chinese currency, the yuan, the European Commission is being cautious. Pointing out the mutual interest for both the EU and China of the Chinese currency increasing in value against the euro, after a meeting in Beijing on Tuesday 27 April with Chinese Trade Minister Chen Denming, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht recognised that no adjustments to the Chinese currency were on the horizon and the yuan would only gradually rise in value. During his meeting with the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, in Beijing on Thursday 29 April, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, was just as cautious, refusing to make a direct call for a rapid increase in the value of the yuan. After his interview with Wen Jiabao, Barroso told reporters that the Chinese government had perfectly understood the underlying message. These cautious comments are very different from the approach taken by the Obama administration, which is increasing pressure on Beijing and threatening to take the question to the World Trade Organisation, accusing the Chinese government of manipulating the yuan for its own ends.
In Shanghai on Friday 30 April 2010, Barroso will be meeting with the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, on the fringes of the 2010 Universal Exhibition attended by a number of European leaders including the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, the Dutch prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, and the Maltese president, George Abela. (E.H./transl.fl)