(ChinaNews, Sept 19, 2006) U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says he will be patient in dealings with China during a visit this week that is expected to include talks on Washington's appeals for a stronger Chinese currency.

Paulson was to arrive Tuesday in the eastern city of Hangzhou before traveling to Beijing for meetings with President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders.

Washington and other trading partners are pressing Beijing to raise the value of its currency, the yuan. But Paulson hasn't said what message he plans to deliver during his first visit to China since taking up his post in July. The former chairman and chief executive of investment bank Goldman Sachs has avoided statements that appear to pressure Beijing.

"I do care a lot about China progressing with their reforms," Paulson said Monday while in Singapore for meetings of finance officials. "I am not looking for immediate solutions or quick fixes to any particular economic issue."

The Chinese trade gap with the United States reached a record US$202 billion last year and is expected to surpass that this year.

Paulson visited China regularly while at Goldman, making key personal contacts. In Hangzhou, he planned to meet with Xi Jinping, a provincial Communist Party secretary whom he knows from his Goldman days.

But Paulson has downplayed expectations, noting that he is "wearing a different hat" as treasury secretary.
source:ChinaNews