China slams Romney for accusing them of ‘cheating’ (VIDEO)
A Chinese bank staff member counts stacks of 100-yuan notes. Many U.S. policymakers believe that China manipulates its currency.
China's official news agency Xinhua pushed back against Mitt Romney's criticism of their economic dealings on Friday, calling his comments "as false as they are foolish."
Thursday, Romney told a crowd in the critical swing state of Virginia that he "want[s] to make sure that if a nation cheats like China has cheated, we call them on the carpet and don't let it continue," Agence France Presse reported.
He also vowed to label China "a currency manipulator" on his first day in office if elected.
The Republican presidential candidate also released an ad Thursday blaming China for the loss of American jobs, CNN reported.
"Under Obama, we've lost over half a million manufacturing jobs," a narrator in the ad said. "And for the first time, China is beating us."
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Xinhua's English-language response to Romney's offensive attacked the businessman's former dealings with Bain capital.
"It is rather ironic that a considerable portion of this China-battering politician's wealth was actually obtained by doing business with Chinese companies before he entered politics," wrote Xinhua's Liu Chang.
Xinhua also warned of a potentially catastrophic "trade war" should Romney continue his "mud-slinging tactics."
"All US politicians should be mindful that the task of maintaining a strong trade relationship is crucial not only to China, but also to the United States as well, especially in this time of global economic turbulence and uncertainty," wrote Chang.
However, as Foreign Policy argued, the Chinese "have become inured to such campaign talk from American politicians," and feel that such "China-bashing" is par for the course in the US election season.
The renminbi, China's currency, has appreciated about 30 percent against the US dollar over the past several years, though Beijing is still very involved in setting its value, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Several members of Congress have asked the US Treasury to label China a "currency manipulator," but it has not done so, prefering "quiet diplomacy" in negotiating with China to allow the market to be more influential in determining it's currency value, AFP reported.
"We know that the currency is still undervalued," said US Ambassador to China Gary Locke.
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