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Download Despite some hostile rhetoric during his campaign, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's views on China are largely in line with President Barack Obama’s, US experts said. But Romney has not backed away from verbal bluster when it comes to tough economic policies toward China, which he has vowed to pursue if he defeats Obama in November's election. A few days before Monday's opening of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, Romney issued what he called "a strategy that makes the path of regional hegemony for China far more costly than the alternative path of becoming a responsible partner in the international system." The challenger has also said he will adopt a "fresh and fearless" approach to US-China trade relations, which he says have been marred by Obama's "acquiescence." Romney has said should he win the election, on his first day in office he would issue an executive order branding China a currency manipulator and directing that countervailing duties on Chinese imports be imposed if Beijing fails to act to strengthen the renminbi, including against Chinese companies or industries that rely on unfair practices or misappropriated US technology for competitive advantage. He also would discontinue US government purchases from China until it commits to a World Trade Organization agreement on procurement, improve border enforcement to prevent counterfeit goods from being taken into the US from China and pursue significant claims of unfair Chinese trade practices through the courts, the WTO and the US Trade Representative's Office. | 
