U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress on Wednesday that America's economy and workers benefit significantly from the trade with China.

"China is our fourth-largest export market. Our exports to China have increased more than 350 percent over the last decade, six times the growth of our exports to the rest of the world," Paulson said in his prepared remarks to the Senate Banking Committee.

"And nearly half of our exports to China are capital goods, including high-value-added goods such as civilian aircraft, electrical machinery, and medical devices," he added.

He told the lawmakers that the successfully management of the economic relationship with China will benefit the United States, and China greatly.

"The United States and China share many strategic interests. These range from national security, to economic growth and trade, to the health of our environment," said the U.S. minister.

"I believe strongly that a healthy Chinese economy, growing without large external imbalances, is of vital interest to the people of the United States, to the people of China, and to the global economy as a whole," he said.

He also noted China has made significant reform in currency policy, but added that the Bush administration are pressing the Chinese to introduce greater current flexibility and undertake wider market reform.

"We are seeing some results. China abandoned its pegged exchange rate in July 2005, and began to introduce some flexibility. Since last July, the pace of appreciation has been more than three times as fast as it had been in the first year after the initial Renminbi reform," he said.

"Foreign currency trading, once conducted entirely by the Chinese government, is now conducted almost entirely by commercial banks. China has introduced financial instruments to hedge foreign exchange risk. And the Chinese government has begun to allow increased fluctuations in the currency," Paulson added.

Source: Xinhua