Hong Kong (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday she was confident a deal will be struck to avert a looming debt government default in the United States, despite weekend talks between the country's two parties ending in stalemate.
"The political wrangling in Washington is intense right now," she told delegates at a meeting of business leaders in Hong Kong at the end of a marathon diplomatic tour.
"But these kinds of debates have been a constant in our political life throughout the history of our republic. And sometimes, they are messy."
U.S. debt deal talks reach new stalemate
She recalled the U.S. government shutdown in the 1990s when husband Bill was president. "I had a front row seat for that one," she quipped.
As was eventually the case back then, she said an open and democratic society ultimately comes together to reach the right solution.
"I am confident that Congress will do the right thing and secure a deal on the debt ceiling, and work with President Obama to take the steps necessary to improve our long-term fiscal outlook."
Clinton's visit to Hong Kong came at the end of a hectic 12-day schedule, which had included visits to Turkey, Greece, India and most recently Bali, Indonesia, for meetings with East Asian leaders and the Southeast Asian bloc countries of ASEAN.
It was in Asia, she said, that much of Washington's economic diplomacy was focused, with exports to the Pacific Rim worth $320 billion to the U.S. economy.
"Numbers like these reflect how closely America's future is linked to the future of this region," she said. "And the reverse is true as well -- because the future of the Asia-Pacific is linked to America's.
"We are a resident power in Asia -- not only a diplomatic or military power, but a resident economic power. And we are here to stay."
But she warned this relationship was tied to four key attributes: openness, freedom, transparency and fairness.
"These four principles are easily uttered and embraced, but they do not implement themselves," she said.
"So our challenge is always to translate them into practice. And my country is hard at work doing that, and we encourage other governments to join us in this effort."
The United States and China have frequently been at loggerheads over a number of trade issues, from the use of protectionist policies such as trade tariffs on imported goods, to companies benefiting from unfair state support.
Washington has also called for Beijing to boost the value of its currency, which it says is artificially undervalued to make China's exports cheaper.
Citing the danger of "creating a hodgepodge of inconsistent and partial bilateral agreements," Clinton called for the establishment of new international trade rules that are consistent across the region.
"The quality of the rules we put in place is just as important as our willingness to enforce them," she said.
She targeted the expansion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a multilateral trade agreement aimed at promoting free trade among members in the Asia-Pacific region.
"Our goal for TPP is to create not just more growth, but better growth," she said. "We believe the TPP needs to include strong protections for workers, the environment, intellectual property, and innovation.
"It should also promote the free flow of information technology and the spread of green technology, as well as the coherence of our regulatory system and the efficiency of supply chains."
