US committed to reducing budget deficit, Gary Locke tells China

BEIJING: Gary Locke, the new US ambassador to China, said on Sunday that President Barack Obama and the United States government are “committed to getting our fiscal house in order.”

“We know that over the last several days more people are buying US Treasuries,” Locke said in Beijing, where he arrived August 12 after being sworn in as ambassador earlier this month in Washington.

“It is a clear indication that investment in the US is safe and secure,” Locke, formerly Obama's commerce secretary, said in response to a question from a reporter for Chinese state television. Locke's comments come after Standard & Poor's decision to strip the U.S. of its AAA rating prompted a scolding from China. The country's official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary the US must cure its “addiction” to borrowing.

China held $1.16 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities at the end of May, more than any other country. “Many outside the United States believe the credit rating cut is an overdue bill that America has to pay for its own debt addiction and the short-sighted political wrangling in Washington,” Xinhua said on August 6.