BizChina

BEIJING: China dismissed on Thursday US threats it would get tough with Beijing on trade and currency to ensure American goods did not face a competitive disadvantage, saying renminbi was at a reasonable level.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said renminbi was at a reasonable level, and that China did not deliberately pursue a trade surplus with the United States.

"At the moment, looking at international balance of payments and forex market supply and demand, the level of renminbi is close to reasonable and balanced," Ma Zhaoxu told a regular news briefing.

"Accusations and pressure do not help to solve the problem," he added.

US president Barak Obama earlier said his administration was pushing China to enforce trade rules and further open their markets, adding to a range of issues weighing on relations between the world's biggest and third-biggest economies.

Simmering tensions between China and the United States since the beginning of the year were ratcheted up another notch yesterday, with Beijing warning Washington that a meeting between US President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama would further sour ties between the two global powers.

Despite repeated protests, the White House confirmed on Tuesday that Obama would meet the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing considers a separatist.

The flare-up comes close on the heels of Washington's approval of a $6.4 billion weapons package for Taiwan, and experts forecast that it might further escalate as several thorny issues such as the value of China's currency, trade protectionism and human rights come to the fore.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu yesterday said that China "resolutely opposes the leader of the United States having contact with the Dalai Lama under any pretext or in any form".

Ma was responding to claims that Obama had told Chinese leaders about the meeting during his November visit to China.

"During President Obama's visit, Chinese leaders had expressed firm opposition to leaders or officials of any country meeting the Dalai Lama," said Ma.

Tibet Autonomous Region in southwestern China posted a fast growth in foreign capital it actually used last year, a local senior commerce official told Xinhua Thursday.

In 2009, the region actually used 58 million U.S. dollars in foreign capital, a growth of 150 percent on the 2008 level, according to Ma Xiangcun, head of the regional commerce bureau.

Ma said this year, the region would step up establishment of data bank for capital attraction and make a good use of such investment invitation platform as investment and trade fairs.

A consortium led by the China National Petroleum Corp.(CNPC), China's largest oil company, won a bid to develop Halfaya oilfield in Iraq, CNPC said on Wednesday.

Under the 20-year deal, CNPC, Total, Petroleum Nasional Berhad (Petronas), and Iraq's state-owned South Oil Co. will jointly develop the 4.1 billion barrel Halfaya field.