Former Oz PM tells currency warriors to shut up
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Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke today called on commentators to stop pressuring China to revalue its currency.
"For God's sake shut up," said Hawke, who was Prime Minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. "Leave it to the Chinese. I'm confident they'll make the right decision."
Speaking at the Boao International Tourism Forum on Hainan Island in southern China, Hawke said that current strains in the relationship between China and the U.S. were a "danger point that needs careful management."
Hawke reminded forum guests that Australia was one of the few countries to avoid recession in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. "We owe that to the economic policy of the Chinese government," he said. "In terms of economic management this Chinese government has been outstanding."
Criticism of China's management of the exchange rate of the yuan has been ratcheted up recently by US Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman.
Krugman has used his New York Times newspaper column to call on the US government to declare China a "currency manipulator" and impose punitive tariffs of 25 percent on Chinese goods.
America has no reason to fear Chinese retaliation according to Krugman. "Right now America has China over a barrel, not the other way around," he wrote in a recent column.
But other commentators say a US move against China could result in all-out trade war.
Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, Stephen Roach, told Bloomberg Television last week "We should take out the baseball bat on Paul Krugman," adding that "America does not have a China problem. America has a savings problem."
Hawke also accused the U.S. of labeling all Muslims as terrorists.
"All religions have extremists," he said. "The overwhelming majority of Muslim people are peace-loving."
He pointed out that it was not a Muslim, but a Jewish extremist who assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He also said the "fanatical Christian Right" in the U.S. had helped prepare the ground for the invasion of Iraq.
Hawke was formerly head of the Australian Trades Union movement and the longest-serving Labour Prime Minister in Australia history. After leaving office he became a successful businessman. In 2009 he helped set up the Center for Muslim and Non-Muslim Understanding at the University of South Australia.
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