A Chinese commerce official said Wednesday that Beijing is opposed to an «excessively rapid» appreciation of its currency and said the government was more concerned with the falling U.S. dollar's effect on the global economy, reported ap. Commerce Vice Minister Chen Deming described as «irresponsible» calls from critics in the United States and elsewhere for the value of the yuan to increase as quickly as possible. «I'm more concerned with the impact of the dollar's decline on the world economy,» Chen, who is expected to take over shortly as minister, told reporters on the sidelines of U.S.-China trade talks outside Beijing. Some U.S. executives and members of Congress maintain the yuan is deliberately undervalued, making Chinese exports unfairly cheap and American imports relatively expensive, which they contend has inflated China's trade surplus. China began allowing a slow rise in the yuan's value in July 2005. Since then, it has appreciated 8.9 percent against the dollar in tightly controlled trading. On Wednesday afternoon, the dollar was trading at 7.3722 yuan. However, Chen said relying entirely on an appreciation of the yuan to balance out trade with the U.S. was «simply not a scientific approach.» The dollar has fallen sharply against major currencies this year, sinking to a record low against the euro in late November. So far this year, the dollar has declined nearly 7 percent against the yen, 10 percent against the Indian rupee and 14 percent against the Canadian dollar. Chen said the decline of the world's reserve currency threatened to push up prices of strategic goods such as gold and oil and impact on the economic health of countries like China that maintain large U.S. dollar-denominated foreign currency reserves. «That's why I sincerely wish to see a scenario where the U.S. economy strengthens and the U.S. dollar strengthens,» Chen said.
