China, U.S. agree on economic rebalance, pursuit of forward-looking monetary polices

BEIJING, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The United States and China, the world's first and third largest economies, have pledged to rebalance each other's economy and move in tandem on forward-looking monetary polices for a strong and durable global economic recovery, according to a China-U.S. joint statement released here on Tuesday.

The statement, issued after talks between Chinese President Hu Jintao and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama, has climaxed the latter's first China trip since he took office in January.

"China will continue to implement the policies to adjust economic structure, raise household incomes, expand domestic demand to increase contribution of consumption to GDP growth and reform its social security system," said the statement.

The United States, in return, will take measures to increase national saving as a share of GDP and promote sustainable non-inflationary growth.

"To achieve this, the United States is committed to returning the federal budget deficit to a sustainable path and pursuing measures to encourage private saving," it said.

President Obama made it clear at an earlier press conference Tuesday afternoon that the rebalancing strategy would require America to save more, reduce consumption and reduce long-term debts.

The statement also said that both sides will pursue forward-looking monetary policies and have "due" regard for the ramifications of those policies for the international economy.

The two also agreed to expedite negotiation on a bilateral investment treaty, and work proactively to resolve bilateral trade and investment disputes in a constructive, cooperative and mutually beneficial manner.