Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs Lael Brainard spoke about China at the Center for American Progress last week.

Brainard emphasized China’s role in shaping the global economic future:

"The choices China makes as it navigates its next phase of development will matter greatly for the kind of international playing field our companies, workers, farmers and ranchers will face.”

Brainard went on to emphasize “four aspects of (the Obama Administration’s) approach.”

"First, China’s economy is now too large for it to pick and choose which rules it will follow without risking the integrity and legitimacy of the international system on which China’s growth depends...

"Second, with China now big enough to have a “systemic” impact across a range of dimensions, China can no longer insist on one set of standards for the big players and another set of standards for itself… we recognize that China must be at the table as global standards are set...

"Third, President Obama has demonstrated his determination to use the legitimate enforcement tools we have available to ensure our trading partners play by the rules as a core part of our trade strategy...

"Finally, it is essential that we place these efforts in the broader context of systematic efforts across the Administration to expand and strengthen channels of communication with Chinese decision makers. We have pursued our agenda with China in a way that creates predictability and clarity, pursuing areas of cooperation even as we press to resolve problems.”

To read the speech in its entirety click here.