BEIJING – China will chart its own course on currency reform based on its needs, and external pressure will only delay the reform, Assistant Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said on Tuesday.
“China and the US have reached consensus that the US understands that China will independently decide on the specific steps of its exchange rate reforms, based on its own interests, taking into account world economic conditions and China’s own development trends,” he said.
Zhu made the remarks after the closing ceremony of the second round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing.
In his closing remarks, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner welcomed a pledge by China’s top leaders to pursue currency reform as part of a broader agenda aimed at boosting domestic consumption and helping rebalance global growth.
“This is, of course, China’s choice,” he said.
Geithner said he was “as confident as I’ve ever been” that China will see that it is in its own interest to let the yuan resume appreciating – for example, to help curb inflation.