Nov 28 2005

Statement on the Currency Report

WASHINGTON -– U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) made the following statement on the Treasury Department’s currency report issued this afternoon. “It is obvious Chinese currency practices violate international monetary policy and are creating havoc for American manufacturers. To say congressional patience is running out on the currency issue is a tremendous understatement. “The concern China will not like being pressed to change their currency practices buys into the idea the world lives by one set of rules and China lives by another. “The Chinese cannot be part of the international community on their terms alone. When you do business with democracies where push-back is part of the economic and political process, you had better get used to being pressed to play by the rules. “In a give-and-take world, China only believes in taking. “China’s political sensibilities have been accommodated to the breaking point. It’s unhealthy to allow a country the size of China to be immune to criticism, particularly when they choose to not play by the rules. “Communists dictatorships rightly lost favor throughout the world in the 20th Century. I do not intend to help empower their renaissance in the 21st Century by allowing China’s communist dictatorship to play by a different set of rules. The Reagan model of negotiating through strength and honestly evaluating other nations would serve us well in our dealings with China. “I expect in the near future, unless some dramatic change occurs, the Congress will speak loudly and forcefully on China’s continuing currency manipulation.” #####