Foreign and Military Affairs
China tells US not to make yuan a scapegoat
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-10-15 14:29
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BEIJING - The United States should not make the yuan a scapegoat for its own domestic problems, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesman said on Friday.
"It is entirely wrong for the United States to make an issue of China's trade surplus and hence put pressure on the yuan exchange rate," Yao said at a regular ministry briefing.
"Other countries have no right to comment on what is a reasonable level for a country's trade surplus," Yao added.
Yao also singled out Japan, saying that it has no grounds to criticise the yuan.
"Japan is not the right country to say that. It has run a trade surplus against China for eight consecutive years," he said.
Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said this week that the pace of yuan reform had been too slow.
Yao said that China was a responsible country and would push ahead with currency reform based on its own domestic conditions.
The yuan has appreciated about 2.7 percent since June 19.
Analysts expected that with political pressure before US Congressional mid-term elections in early November and a G20 summit in Seoul in mid-November, the central bank is likely to continue to allow the yuan to appreciate in the near term.
Yao reiterated Beijing's long-standing stance that currency reform would be gradual, arguing that a sharp rise would hit Chinese exporters.
"If the yuan's exchange rate rises by 3 percent, it will put great pressure on some Chinese exporters," Yao told reporters at the sideline of the briefing.
But he also sounded an optimistic note about the impact of yuan reform on most Chinese exporters.
"About 85 percent of export enterprises are private businesses or owned by foreign companies, and are quite able to adjust their product structure when facing exchange rate fluctuations," he said.
