Mar. 8, 2007 (China Knowledge) – China needs to speed up on economic and financial reforms, as well as to improve on control of capital flows, said U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday.

Arriving in Beijing on Thursday, Paulson said in his first major speech during his two-day visit to China that “I believe increasing the pace of reform in your financial services markets is in the best interest of China's future,” This is his third visit since joining the Bush administration in July last year.

Paulson also addressed several issues, most of which were on the opening up of financial sectors to foreign markets including the RMB, Mainland stocks, bonds, futures and the insurance industry.

After his trip to Beijing, where he met vice premier Wu Yi, Paulson headed down to Shanghai. In his speech at the Shanghai Futures Exchange, Paulson outlined a series of steps for the Chinese authorities, including freeing controls on interest rates, accelerating sales of state-owned banks and allowing the exchange rate to fluctuate more freely.