“We’re going to come out of this stronger than the other major economies and we’re going to come out more quickly,” Geithner said in remarks today at the Export-Import Bank in Washington. Global growth is expected to be 4 percent this year and next, and “those forecasts seem to be going up,” he said.

Mr. Obama, in a speech last week about his goal to double U.S. exports over five years, urged China to move to a “market-oriented” exchange rate. The U.S. Department of the Treasury in April also must make its semiannual determination of whether to formally label China a “currency manipulator.”

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao rebuffed international criticism that China had become arrogant and was engaging in triumphalism — charges that were largely flung after the Copenhagen climate-change talks ended without a binding agreement. Wen painted the world’s most populous nation as a country marching toward development against major odds.

Citing the yawning income gap between urban and rural residents and China’s unbalanced economy, Wen said the government had too many domestic issues to address to focus on influencing affairs overseas. China, he said, would always be a passive nation.

“China will never seek hegemony,” Wen said.

The premier was asked about the souring business environment for foreign companies in light of Google’s high-profile threat to leave China and the arrest of employees of the Australian mining giant Rio Tinto last year. He said that China would create a “fair playing ground.”

Wen said China wanted more foreign companies to build research-and-development centers and introduce advanced technology. He also said he would begin meeting with the foreign business community.

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