China Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Sunday rejected foreign pressure over its foreign exchange policy and said the national currency will be kept basically stable.
The United States and China's other trading partners have been exerting pressure on Beijing to ease foreign exchange controls that keep the yuan undervalued against major world currencies and create what they say unfair advantages for Chinese exporters.
Wen said, however, that keeping the yuan exchange rate basically stable had played an important role in facilitating the recovery of the global economy from the worst financial crisis in decades.
Wen said the Chinese national currency had appreciated 21% against the U.S. dollar since 2005 when China started its currency reform to unpeg the yuan against the greenback.
The dollar/yuan exchange rate currently stands at about 1:6.8 and has been the reason for a huge U.S. trade deficit with China in recent years.
According to U.S. foreign trade statistics, the U.S. trade deficit with China equaled $227 billion in 2009, slightly down from the record of $268 billion registered in 2008, the world's largest deficit in trade between any two countries.
Analysts say the yuan is about 40% undervalued.
BEIJING, March 14 (RIA Novosti)
