(Xinhua/Agencies/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-11-09 15:25

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is pictured during a G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting at the Treasury Department in Washington October 19, 2007. [Agencies]

The United States does not fear an economically stronger China, US Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson said Thursday.

"We do not fear an economically stronger and more competitive China, which benefits the Chinese people, the American people, and the prosperity of the global economy." Paulson said when addressing the Fourth Annual China Institute Executive Summit.

"The US-China economic relationship is among my highest priorities," he said, adding that it is also among the most challenging.

"The United States and China have a unique role to play in the coming decades in assuring a strong global economy and shaping the global economic agenda," he noted.

China 'great challenge' - Giuliani

Also on Thursday, US 2008 Republican front-runner Rudolph Giuliani said that emerging China was a "great challenge" to the country, and backed continued engagement with Beijing.

The former New York mayor also called for an increase in US military strength to "deter China from mounting a security challenge to America."

"China is a great challenge to the United States, and maybe one of the most important challenges," Giuliani told an audience of mainly students at Iowa State University.

"We will be the two great economies in the world. The more we make sure China's rise is peaceful, the better it is going to help the United States," Giuliani said in response to a question from a Chinese student. "We should remain substantially engaged with China."

Giuliani's comments marked one of his first significant discussions of China policy during his campaign, and signaled he would continue the engagement strategy favored by recent US administrations if elected president.

"To make sure that China doesn't think of challenging us militarily, we should increase the size of our military," Giuliani said.

US Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton wrote in the latest edition of Foreign Affairs journal that the Sino-US relationship would be "the most important bilateral relationship in the world in this century" and called for "co-operatitve" ties with Beijing.

Senator Barack Obama, second to Clinton in national polls branded China as a "competitor" but not necessarily an enemy.

Another leading Democratic candidate, John Edwards, has warned that with the US preoccupation with other global hotspots like Iraq, Iran and Democratic Republic of Korea, China has not had enough attention from US policymakers in recent years.

Republican candidates have been generally less concerned about China's economic tactics, than its military buildup. In the latest edition of Foreign Affairs journal, US Senator John McCain wrote that China could bolster its good will that it is peacefully rising by being more transparent about its military buildup.