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China playing increasingly influential role in global economy: finance minister of Canada

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-08 03:26

TORONTO - China is increasingly influential with its leadership speaking out on the world stage for its fiscal consolidation, Jim Flaherty, the minister of finance of Canada, said Monday, after his trip to China and Republic of Korea.

He made the above remarks when answering Xinhua's question about his expectation of China's role in the global economy as well as the oncoming G20 Leaders' Summit which will be staged from June 26 to June 27 in Toronto.

"China is playing an increasingly influential role in the world economy," said Flaherty, adding that as a very large emerging country, China is encouraging the growth of its domestic demand and this is also good for the world economy, while some developed countries are carrying too much debt.

Flaherty's visit to China took place three weeks before the G- 20 Leaders' Summit in Toronto, and a day before G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors meet in Busan, Republic of Korea.

He told Xinhua that he met with Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, and Xie Xuren, his Chinese counterpart, when he was in China.

"They were both actively participating with expectation to the economic framework we need to do globally in order to have balance, " Flaherty told Xinhua.

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"As we work to ensure a fledgling recovery takes root, this nation's contribution will become even more important," said the minister.

He also mentioned that there is also some pressure on China and some other Asian nations to permit their currency more flexible and he wished to see more flexibility overtime.

In the past five years, Canada's exports to China have surged nearly 55 percent, and China is now Canada's second largest merchandise trading partner and its third largest export market.

Investment potential was further improved in April, when the China Banking Regulatory Commission designated Canada as a destination for Chinese banking wealth management business under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor program, giving Canadian financial institutions access to up to $8 billion in investment capital.