U.S. Chamber chief heading to China next week

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said Friday he will meet with Chinese leaders next week to discuss intellectual property, currency, counterfeiting and their strategy to reward indigenous innovation. 

Donohue, whose visit comes ahead of a bilateral Strategic & Economic Dialogue in Beijing on May 24-25, opposes China's strategy to require companies to register intellectual property in China to qualify for government incentives. 

"China is using industrial policies and an array of regulatory tools to foster national champions and to promote the transfer of technology and innovative capacity to their country," he said during a speech at the National Press Club on Friday. 

Lawmakers and business leaders have widely complained about China stealing American intellectual property that has harmed competitiveness. 

On the issue of currency, Donohue said that while the exchange rate with China should be adjusted, he is more concerned about the "theft of intellectual property" and counterfeiting of American products, he said today. 

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been trying to convince China to let their currency, the yuan, strengthen against the dollar, which critics argue is severely undervalued. He has yet to embrace calls from Congress to sanction China for currency manipulation, preferring a diplomatic approach. 

Geithner and State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton will head over to China for talks on several issues later this month. 

Asked about the value of China's currency, another contentious issue, Donohue said he believed the yuan exchange rate "should be adjusted" but that moderate change would have little impact on China's huge trade surplus.

Jobs and economic vitality will be the focus of those talks later this month. U.S. Ambassador to Beijing Jon Huntsman told reporters today. 

"China is going through an historic economic transformation as they endeavor to create social safety nets that will allow them to move from an export-based system to a more consumer-based system," Huntsman said today.