Republican presidential
front-runner Donald Trump has accused China of "raping" the US, in
renewed criticism of China's trade policy.
Republican Donald Trump at a
rally in Indiana said that China was responsible for "the greatest theft
in the history of the world".
Mr Trump, a billionaire
businessman, has long accused China of manipulating its currency to make its
exports more competitive globally.
This, he says, has badly
damaged US businesses and workers.
"We can't continue to
allow China to rape our country, and that's what we're doing," he told the
campaign rally on Sunday.
"We're going to turn
it around, and we have the cards, don't forget it," he added. "We
have a lot of power with China."
Mr Trump, in his campaign
manifesto, pledges to "cut a better deal with China that helps American
businesses and workers compete".
He sets out four goals that
include immediately declaring China "a currency manipulator" and
putting "an end to China's illegal export subsidies and lax labour and
environmental standards".
Latest figures from the US
government show the trade deficit with China reached an all-time high of
$365.7bn (£250.1bn) last year. By February this year, it had already reached
$57bn.
There was no immediate
response from Beijing to Mr Trump's comments, but he is seen by many in China
as an inspiration rather than an antagonist, says the BBC's Vincent Ni.
What's behind Trump's comments?
Bill Wilson, BBC News business reporter
Donald Trump has repeatedly
accused China of manipulating its currency to make its exports more
competitive, with what he says are damaging consequences for the US economy.
Rather than floating freely
against the dollar, the Chinese authorities ensure the yuan maintains a closely
fixed relationship with the US currency, and that it only trades in a narrow
band either side of a fixed point selected by China.
Critics, including Mr
Trump, claim China is keeping its currency at an unnaturally low level to boost
its exports to the US, which also damages the prospects of US firms selling
their goods to China. That, they say, has created in a huge trade imbalance.
Latest figures from
Washington for US-China goods trade in January and February show the
relationship does appear to be skewed. In those months the US exported $16.3bn
in goods to China, but imported $73.3bn, leaving a massive goods trade
imbalance of $57bn.
Last week, the US Treasury
placed China (and others) on a currency watchlist, after pressure on the US
government to be more robust in combating any currency manipulation by trading
partners.
The Treasury stated that
none of its large trading partners had engaged in currency manipulation in the
past year, but indicated it was concerned about growing imbalances with some of
those partners, including China.
This is the first time Mr
Trump has used the word "rape" in the context of China and trade, but
his campaign for the Republican Party's presidential nomination has been
punctuated by inflammatory comments.
He was confronted by
hundreds of protesters in California on Friday before giving a speech to the
state's Republican convention. Mr Trump was forced to enter the building by the
back entrance.
Protesters were angry at
his views on immigration: he has advocated building a border wall with Mexico,
and has also referred to Mexicans as "rapists" and criminals
responsible for bringing illegal drugs into the US.
Media captionThere have
been widespread protests in California against Donald Trump's candidacy.
The Trump campaign had to
cancel several rallies in March after hundreds of protesters threatened to
disrupt events in Chicago and St Louis.
Mr Trump has called himself
the Republican "presumptive nominee" after a string of primary wins.
In terms of delegate
support, the property tycoon is far ahead of his nearest rivals, Texas Senator
Ted Cruz and John Kasich, the governor of Ohio.
On the other side of the
race, Hillary Clinton is expected to beat Bernie Sanders to the Democratic
nomination and fight for the presidency in November's general election.
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