US treasury chief pursues closer economic ties with China

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US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is making best of his first Beijing visit to pursue a closer economic ties with China.

Geithner will spend Monday in a flurry of meetings with China's top economic team, including Vice Premier Wang Qishan and chiefs of commerce, finance, banking and securities.

"These meetings will give us a chance to discuss the risks and challenges on the economic front, to examine some of the longer term challenges we both face in laying the foundation for a more balanced and sustainable recovery, and to explore our common interest in international financial reform," Geithner said in an economic address at Peking University, where he studied Mandarin in the early 1980s.

In the speech entitled "The United States and China, Cooperating for Recovery and Growth," Geithner lauded bilateral efforts to tackle the economic downturn.

"China and the United States are working together to help shape a strong global strategy to contain the crisis and to lay the foundation for recovery," he told an audience of students, academics and officials.

"These efforts, the combined effect of forceful policy actions here in China, in the United States, and in other major economies, have helped slow the pace of deterioration in growth, repair the financial system, and improve confidence."

Geithner struck a positive note on the global economy, citing the initial signs of improvement.

"The global recession seems to be losing force. In the US, the pace of decline in economic activity has slowed, households are saving more. Orders for goods and services are somewhat stronger."

Geithner said the US "financial system is starting to heal," listing some signs in banks, securities markets and in credit.

As the world is addressing the immediate financial and economic crisis, Geithner said it was important to lay the foundations for a more balanced, sustained growth of the global economy, which requires substantial changes to economic policy and financial regulation.